Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Ethel Cain, and more are still resonating with today's record store frequenters.
Clarity Records SA (Supplied)
In a celebration of our country’s fine record stores, who are continuing to do outstanding work despite the trials and tribulations they face in today’s precarious, expensive digital age, this month, The Music's search for Australia's best record store is officially on. To vote now and enter the draw to win a $200 voucher to spend at the store, click here.
In conversation with The Music, record store owners across Australia have revealed the most popular titles that are still being constantly purchased, and there are certainly some patterns—and some surprises.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
The most popular title has to be Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album. I often joke that I wished I had a Rumours tree in my backyard!
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What is the most popular evergreen title?
The most evergreen title would have to be Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon.
A-Z Records
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What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
The most-sold record of the year is still Fontaines D.C.’s Romance. That thing is a masterpiece and just keeps on selling.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Right now, Grace by Jeff Buckley. I love that he played Tweed Heads on his Aussie tour.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Some of last month's top sellers have been the vinyl press of Sydney band Antenna's debut EP, along with the reissue of iconic 80s Aussie punk single My Pal by GOD. But for all of 2025 thus far, the biggest seller has easily been Ethel Cain's Preacher's Daughter.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
The classics of each genre are always hard to go past (Rumours and Dark Side Of The Moon from the rock section; Madvillainy and 36 Chambers from the hip hop section; A Love Supreme and Scenery from the jazz section) but I reckon alternative classics from Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Cocteau Twins and Deftones are making up good ground!
Beatdisc Records
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What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Ethel Cain’s sophomore album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, has been our hottest pre-order of the year. We’re struggling to keep up!
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. It’s bulletproof. Every week, without fail, someone picks up a copy. It’s the kind of record people buy for themselves, then come back to buy for a mate. Still timeless, still magic.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Right now, it’s Taylor Swift’s Big Machine-era albums — Speak Now, Fearless, Red, etc. There’s been a massive wave of interest in these records since she started reclaiming the rights to her catalogue. Fans are snapping up any vinyl pressings of the originals while they’re still floating around.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Fontaines D.C.’s most recent album, Romance, just keeps on flying out the door.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours just keeps on selling. It has consistently been one of our top sellers for over 10 years. It’s one of those records that has stood the test of time and resonates with multiple generations.
Landspeed Records
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What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Our most popular title this year is Dumbells - Up Late With… LP, and for good reason! One of the best guitar-centric records out of Sydney in yonks. If you enjoy Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, Pavement etc (as Molly Meldrum would say) do yourself a favour!
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Due to changing point of sales systems at least 3 or 4 times since 2002 I can’t give you a statistically accurate answer but I recall selling a steady flow of Wu-Tang Clan’s debut, Death (as in the Florida band, but the Detroit Death is also popular) and Fugazi since the Penrith days.
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon. No surprise there. It’s one of those albums that sells week in, week out—to first-time buyers and long-time collectors.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Well, on pre-orders in preparation for its release on August 1, Swanee's upcoming album called Believe.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Through some amazingly successful promotions over the years, there are several which include Johnny Horton's Greatest Hits, Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads, Melinda Schneider's Melinda Does Doris, and John Schumann's Behind The Lines.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Any Japanese city pop, especially anything by Masayashi Takanaka.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Either Fleetwood Mac Rumours or Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon.
Tengu Records
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What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Hard to say what the most popular title is at the moment, as we do a massive range of one-off second-handers and we only do small quantities of new releases. Having said that - the late 90s to early 00’s UK and US Tech & Deep House categories are getting the most workout around town - this is being bolstered by prominent reissues from Repeat Records, local label Spin Cycle Records releasing Mark Ambrose & Neil E tracks, & Sushitech releasing Get F**ked, Eric Spire & more - we couldn’t let our local legends go unnoticed with AKA Zeb’s fresh EP recently selling out as well as Carl Maxfield’s gorgeous Aesthetics EP - sorry if we missed anyone!
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Probably something off Blue Note - a Blue Train or similar. Or maybe a Herbie release. Or maybe Sade or maybe Massive Attack or Portishead. How can you pick just one?
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
At the moment, it’s everything Pissgrave. They recently released a new album, and their label, Profound Lore, has just reissued their debut and sophomore albums. We also teamed up with the band directly to print shirts for them in the country.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Probably Deathconsciousness by Have A Nice Life. This is a hard one, as we’re a new store and our focus is very much on what’s happening right now. We have a few ‘forever’ titles that seem to always move and are gradually bringing in more older classic titles, but we typically steer away from stocking titles you’re likely to see everywhere.
Blacksounds Records
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What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
The overlooked classic 1970s folk of Sibylle Baier, Colour Green.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
The obvious ones, but a shop favourite and constant seller is Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Ooo, that’s a tough one...it generally depends on what day it is and who's in town! At the moment, Doechii's Alligator Bites Never Heal, Kneecap's Fine Art, and Fontaines D.C.’s Romance are big hitters, as well as Chappell Roan's Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess!
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Ooft, you are really going for the tough ones today! I would say Neil Young’s Harvest or Cocteau Twins’ Heaven or Las Vegas. And we can’t forget Jeff Buckley's Grace.
What’s the most popular title you stock at the moment?
I started online, where uniqueness matters more than popularity. Instead of competing with dozens of Australian record stores and Amazon for the cheapest trending pop record, I’d sell a thousand lesser-known titles slowly and more steadily. Over time, it adds up—financially and creatively.
Music has its own “winner’s curse.” The more popular a title, the fiercer the competition and the higher the price to stock it. Meanwhile, a large number of obscure but culturally valuable records outperform those handful of blockbusters. The secondary market favours rarity, curiosity, and diversity.
Sure, I’ve stocked the occasional sealed Frank Ocean, ‘90s Radiohead first pressing, hard-to-find Taylor Swift variants, Daft Punk rarity, rare Go-Betweens and late 1970s Brisbane punk band singles worth thousands. But I don’t chase trends. They come and go. Most of my inventory comes from what people bring in, and that unpredictable mix consistently outperforms the obvious bestsellers.
I’ve made peace with that. It suits me—curious, independent, and comfortable with ambiguity. I study pop culture and its trends, but I’m not trying to pick winners. My job is to serve the music, preserve formats, and give the overlooked a shot at being heard.
What’s your most popular evergreen title?
The classics. Bach, Beethoven, Elgar. Intellectual, solitary, foundational.
Glitter Records
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What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Right now, it’s a tie between Radiohead and Taylor Swift.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. It’s one of those records that we always have on hand.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
The big sellers in recent months have been local releases by Ball Park Music, Beddy Rays and Tape/Off (I’ll include Mess Esque in there too, even though they’re only half local - it’s a cracking album, so we’ll claim it). Some overseas titles selling well of late are recent efforts by Viagra Boys and MJ Lenderman, while from interstate, it’s been bands like The Cruel Sea and Last Quokka shifting units.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
It seems that the two albums we’ve probably sold the most of over the journey are Rumours by Fleetwood Mac and Grace by Jeff Buckley - everybody who begins their vinyl journey starts by getting their faves on wax, and these two seem to be winning that race so far. On an Aussie level, Tame Impala curate their catalogue well, and all of their albums are constantly ticking over.
Sonic Sherpa
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What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
The new Amyl & The Sniffers and the 40th anniversary of INXS’ Listen Like Thieves have been doing really well.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Without a doubt, it’s Bob Marley & The Wailers - Legend. That one is a constant seller. Portishead - Dummy and Nirvana - Nevermind are close runners-up.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Preacher’s Daughter by Ethel Cain, by a long shot.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
C418’s excellent Minecraft: Volume Alpha soundtrack.
Midland Records
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What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Jeff Buckley – Grace LP.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours, Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon LPs.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Our top 3 most popular current titles include Turnstile - Never Enough, Sleep Token - Even In Arcadia and Ethel Cain - Preacher's Daughter.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Our top 3 most popular 'evergreen' titles include Fleetwood Mac - Rumours, Tame Impala - Currents and Arctic Monkeys - AM.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Gracie Abrams - The Secret of Us, Sabrina Carpenter - Short N Sweet, SZA - CTRL, DJO - Decide, Kendrick Lamar - GNX.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Anything Fleetwood Mac or Nirvana.
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
Not a unique answer here: Jeff Buckley, Grace & Deftones, Around the Fur
What is the most popular evergreen title?
I’ll assume by evergreen you mean a title that is still as fresh and hasn’t aged? If so, Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut – This thing keeps getting better as Ozzy stumbles on!
What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?
This year’s biggest seller so far has been local musician Cathy Diver’s debut album Everything’s A Car.
What is the most popular evergreen title?
Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black continues to be our biggest-selling evergreen title, while Chappell Roan’s Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess and Emily Wurramara’s Nara have sold the most copies overall.
Suffragette Records
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