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The one thing keeping Lil Nas X from reaching No. 1: Vinyl

Posted at 10:57 AM, Jul 02, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-02 12:57:52-04

Demand for more “Old Town Road” can’t beat the old time ways.

Lil Nas X’s new album “7” released at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, falling just short of the The Raconteurs latest release, “Help Us Stranger.”

Both debuted with high sales, but the difference came down to vinyl sales.

That’s right — the things that go on record players.

In their first week, The Raconteurs sold 25,000 vinyl LPs, the largest sales week for vinyl in 2019 and the sixth largest sales week since 1991, according to Billboard.

Demand for vinyl music has increased dramatically in recent years, so much so that in 2017 Sony Music Entertainment announced it would begin pressing records again after a decades long hiatus.

“Help Us Stranger” sold a total of 88,000 album units. This includes physical album sales, downloads and streaming. 84,000 of those units were pure album sales.

The band has reached the Billboard’s top 10 twice before and the group’s leader Jack White has hit the No. 1 spot three times for his solo acts.

There appears to be no hard feelings between the artists as Lil Nas X congratulated the group’s label, Third Man Records, on Twitter.

Lil Nas X’s album debuted with 77,000 album units sold and 90.4 million on demand audio streams, making it the most streamed album of the week.

“Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X’s hit single, has spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart.