THE HITS INDIE RETAIL TOP 50 CHART GOES ON THE RECORD

We are positively chuffed to present the brand-spanking-new HITS Indie Retail Top 50 chart, compiled in partnership with StreetPulse and Record Store Day. In addition to vinyl, this chart tracks sales of CDs, cassettes and other physical product, all of which has proven resurgent over the last couple of years.

Geffen's Kali Uchis claims the #1 position on the new chart with ORQUÍDEAS. Republic's Taylor Swift holds two spots in the Top 5. You'll also note strong showings by 4AD's Cocteau Twins, Interscope's boygenius (whose self-titled album on Matador also appears on the chart) and indie jazz phenom Laufey, to name a few. Warner's Green Day, whose new album dropped last week, appears here with breakthrough set Dookie.

Album sales at indie retailers hit 32 million in 2023, up 9.4% over the previous year, and increased by 3.5m+ in the last two years. Yet as of Q4 2023, only 72 U.S. indie stores (out of more than 1,400) reported their sales to Billboard chart partner Luminate. That entity displayed its disdain for the indie community by ending its practice of weighting indie sales in its sales chart—to extrapolate for those stores that didn’t report—and only counting sales that were directly reported.

We’re happy to say that more than 200 indie retailers report to our new chart. We suspect that several of these employ at least one dude who will tell you the Beatles sound better in mono.

Dig into the chart here. If you need us, we’ll be searching for a mint copy of 801 Live.