Miley Cyrus's Bass Persuades swept physical retail this week, topping both overall sales and independent record stores, while Beck's Ride Lonesome drove unusually strong over-the-counter traffic at indie shops.
No. 1 · All physical retail
Bass Persuades
Miley Cyrus · Atlantic Records
No. 1 · Independent stores
Bass Persuades
Miley Cyrus · Atlantic Records
Miley Cyrus's Bass Persuades achieved a clean sweep in Week 38, topping both overall physical retail (with 38,325 total physical copies) and independent record store charts. Driven by massive street-date demand across e-commerce pre-orders and local store fulfillment, the album logged 24,942 total vinyl sales and 6,778 physical sales at indie stores (5,586 on indie vinyl), marking the largest single-week vinyl debut of September 2026.
Beck's Ride Lonesome delivered massive over-the-counter storefront activity, taking the No. 2 physical spot at independent stores with 4,652 physical copies sold across indie panel locations. Brick-and-mortar shop counters generated an astounding 96.8% of Beck's indie volume, moving 3,385 vinyl albums and 1,267 CDs in store.
Stray Kids' This & That returned to No. 1 on the overall CD chart with 15,983 copies (14,721 through storefront retail), while Anthrax's Cursum Perficio took No. 1 on the Indie CD chart with 1,812 CDs sold through independent shops.
The week in physicalTotal U.S. physical music sales surged to 1,468,894 units in Week 38 (ending Sept. 24, 2026), up 12.7% over the same tracking week in 2025 (1,302,880 units). Growth was driven by double-digit expansions across both vinyl (+13.8%) and CD album sales (+11.1%).
Week 38 physical performance
2026 vs. same tracking week in 2025
Source: Luminate. Week ending Sept. 24, 2026 vs. same week 2025.
Independent record stores sold a modeled 463,127 physical albums in Week 38 (up 14.3% YoY from 405,077), while raw same-store panel sales reached 153,557 copies (up 23.3% YoY from 124,506). High-impact release slates from Miley Cyrus, Beck, Anthrax and Orville Peck provided strong brick-and-mortar storefront traffic across the late-September tracking period.
Indie store sales, last eight weeks
Weekly physical album sales by week-ending date; labels show 2026
Modeled sales, all indie stores
Raw sales, same-store panel
Source: Luminate. Same-store panel = raw sales from indie stores reporting in both years.
8-week indie store sales performance (2026 vs. 2025)
| Week ending | 2025 modeled | 2026 modeled | Modeled YoY % | 2025 raw | 2026 raw | Raw YoY % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/6/26 | 484K | 495K | +2.3% | 135K | 158K | +17.0% |
| 8/13/26 | 463K | 483K | +4.3% | 134K | 157K | +17.2% |
| 8/20/26 | 440K | 533K | +21.1% | 139K | 185K | +33.1% |
| 8/27/26 | 456K | 479K | +5.0% | 137K | 155K | +13.1% |
| 9/3/26 | 485K | 520K | +7.2% | 138K | 192K | +39.1% |
| 9/10/26 | 385K | 513K | +33.2% | 123K | 169K | +37.4% |
| 9/17/26 | 407K | 411K | +1.0% | 120K | 135K | +12.5% |
| 9/24/26 (W38) | 405K | 463K | +14.3% | 125K | 154K | +23.3% |
Achieved week ending 8/20/26 (+21.1% YoY growth).
Recorded week ending 9/3/26 (+39.1% YoY surge).
Positive YoY growth logged across all 8 consecutive weeks.
Overall U.S. physical album sales continue to show strong year-over-year momentum through Week 38, totaling 55.92 million units across all formats compared to 52.59 million units in the same period of 2025 (a +6.3% YoY overall physical expansion).
Physical album sales by format, year to date
Through Sept. 24, 2026 vs. same period in 2025
Source: Luminate. Year to date through Sept. 24, 2026 vs. same period 2025.
Vinyl album sales by channel, year to date
Through Sept. 24, 2026, with share of all vinyl and change vs. 2025
Source: Luminate. Year to date through Sept. 24, 2026 vs. same period 2025.
Grew +20.1% YoY, the fastest-growing vinyl channel of 2026.
Expanded +6.8% YoY, capturing 21.6% market share.
Grew +3.5% YoY, driving 12.9% of all vinyl sales.
Anchors vinyl with a market-leading 39.5% share.
Overall U.S. physical album sales continue to show strong year-over-year momentum through Week 38, totaling 55.92 million units across all formats compared to 52.59 million units in the same period of 2025 (a +6.3% YoY overall physical expansion).
Combined physical format expansion driven by vinyl & CD gains.
Double-digit growth led by K-pop box sets & pop collectible packaging.
Paced by indie record stores (12.38M) and mass market expansion (+20.1%).
Double-digit growth supported by limited-edition retro releases.
Vinyl copies sold of Miley Cyrus's Bass Persuades in its debut week, the highest single-week vinyl sales debut of September 2026.
Independent record stores' market-leading share of all U.S. vinyl album sales YTD (12.38M units), confirming brick-and-mortar indie retail as the anchor format channel.
This post covers the week's physical market highlights. Luminate customers can go further in CONNECT, with full charts and album-level dashboards behind every title.
Request a demoSource: Luminate. Weekly figures cover the tracking week Sept. 18–24, 2026, compared with the same week last year. Year-to-date figures run through Sept. 24, 2026. Independent-store totals are modeled; same-store figures are raw sales from stores reporting in both years.
As entertainment’s preeminent data and insights company, our services unlock the most trustworthy information across music, film and television.
