"His stuff - he'll sell out without anyone even knowing it happened," Doerner said. A good example of an artist who sells out nearly instantly is Maine's R.A.P.
Being attuned to artists' social media is essential for the store not to miss out. "A lot of indie hip-hop artists are releasing on their own, and if you're not on top of it, the day they announce something, it's sold out," he said. According to Doerner, hip-hop vinyl sales have grown the most in the past five years, joining the ranks of indie and classic rock. He also sells quite a few copies of the Tame Impala masterpiece Currents, Talking Heads' breakthrough Speaking in Tongues, and Kendrick Lamar's magnum opus Good Kid, M.A.A.D. "It's annoying to say that, because if you asked a record store clerk that in 1, it's always gonna be the same goddamn answer," Doerner said, noting that he sells, on average, one Rumours per day. Burlington Records' Ian Doerner recently confirmed that, indeed, the classic 1977 album is his best-selling disc. I always presumed, somewhat facetiously, that they sold a lot of copies of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. I was also particularly curious about what kinds of records have been moving, as a nod to Seven Days' formerly weekly and long-retired inclusion of record store sales in this section.Įven before I started doing this series, I'd asked record store owners in past conversations about their best sellers. In the past few weeks, I've been checking in with local record store proprietors to find out how the pandemic has been treating them.