Cassette Tape Sales Rose 35% In 2017 Thanks To 'Guardians Of The Galaxy'

Fire up the DeLorean and charge the Flux Capacitor, it appears we're doing some time travelling.

In a report from Billboard Biz, 2017 saw cassette tape sales rise a whopping 35% and, mostly, it's the Guardians Of The Galaxy to thank. 

The soundtrack for Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 2 was the largest selling cassette of the year, with a total of 19,000 copies sold. It was closely followed by the original Guardians Of The Galaxy soundtrack, at 15,000 sales, and the soundtrack to the animated Guardians Of The Galaxy TV show came in with 5,000 sales. 

While the numbers are small when compared to other album sales (looking at you, digital…), the niche market continues to show growth with an additional 45,000 cassettes purchased in 2017 compared to the previous year.

According to the Nielsen Music cassette sales chart, the Stranger Things soundtrack came in at #4 with 3,000 sales, Eminem's The Eminem Show at #5 with 3,000, the Hamilton Musical soundtrack at #6 with 3,000, and Prince's Purple Rain soundtrack at #7 with 2,000 sales.

Rounding out the chart were more contemporary acts, with Twenty One Pilots' Blurryface and Kanye West's Yeezus at #8 and #9 respectively (with 2,000 sales each), before another blast from the past, Nirvana's Nevermind, took out #10 with 2,000 sales.

Could it be time to dust off the boombox?