National Album Day 2020 returns on 10th October celebrating the Eighties arguably music’s greatest decade. This year’s 80s theme is a first in a series of musical themes for National Album Day that will be rolled out annually and coincides with the current resurgence of 80s popular culture that is loved by audiences both young and old.
The Eighties has been voted the UK’s favourite music decade and gave us artists like Madonna, Eurythmics, Culture Club, Kylie and Wham!, and where Depeche Mode, Smiley Culture, The Cure and New Order also came to the fore. It also saw the advent of the CD, and through Live Aid showed us the compelling power of music. National Album Day will celebrate all this, with record labels and music retailers joining in the fun with the release of a series of new albums, boxsets and classic reissues including: Duran Duran ‘Duran Duran’, Paul Simon ‘Graceland’, ‘The Stone Roses ‘Stone Roses’, Blues Brothers ‘Blues Brothers’, Smash Hits 80s and more.
National Album Day is organised jointly by record labels body the BPI (The BRIT Awards and Hyundai Mercury Prize) and the Entertainment Retailers Association (Record Store Day), and is supported by BBC Sounds, who as official broadcast partner will spotlight National Album Day across BBC networks, along with the UK’s recorded music industry including AIM and other trade associations, retailers and digital/streaming platforms as well as partners including Classic Albums Sunday – who this October celebrate their tenth anniversary.
National Album Day celebrates the album format
Based on Official Charts data 154 million albums or their equivalent were purchased, downloaded or streamed in the UK in 2019 – up 7.7% on the previous year, and even during the first six months of a COVID-19-hit 2020, album equivalent sales have risen by 6.8%. The format does particularly well on vinyl – with over 4.3 million LP sales in 2019 following 12 years of consecutive growth – and even the humble cassette, the quintessential 80s format, is now finding favour again, with over 130,000 projected sales for this year – the highest sales since 2003.
National Album Day will hold a variety of events and activities including Classic Album Sunday and Tape Notes events, in-store artist appearances, record store promotions, and two Network Rail exhibitions in major cities across the UK. To find out events in your local area go to the National Album Day website where news, events and exclusive Album Day activities will be announced in the coming weeks.
