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On your marks, cassette, go!

2018 was the biggest year for cassette sales in over a decade, with music fans across all age ranges getting their hands on a cassette by their favourite chart act.

The BPI revealed sales of the format were up 125.3% year-on-year, reaching 50,000 sales in 2018 compared to just under 30,000 sold in 2017, according to Official Charts Company data.

While some cassettes are stocked in high street retailers, the majority are available through artists' official webstores and at live gigs, often in collectable limited edition runs.

Last year saw the highest number of cassettes purchased in the UK since 2004. So which artists are helping the phoenix format rise from the ashes?

The 1975 scored 2018's bestselling cassette with their Number 1 album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. Available in white, red, purple and green, the group sold 7,523 copies of their studio album on cassette, 7,147 of those being in its first week of release, making it the fastest-seller on the format since July 2002.

Kylie Minogue was also a big seller on the vintage platform, shifting an impressive 6,262 tapes of her Number 1 album Golden. Following it's initial release, Kylie also released a Collector's Edition and a Winter Collector's Edition.

Kylie's BMG labelmates The Prodigy finish third in the 2018 countdown, having sold 2,148 cassettes of their Number 1 album No Tourists. Should they have not released a cassette, they would only have topped the Official Albums Chart by five combined sales.

Released in 2017, Guardians of the Galaxy's Awesome Mix 2 continued to sell well last year, ranking in fourth, while streaming supremo Ariana Grande proved she's also popular on the retro format in fifth.

Elsewhere, Delta by Mumford & Sons is in sixth, ahead of the first ever Now That's What I Call Music! album (reissued alongside the release of NOW 100) at 7, and Guardians of the Galaxy's Awesome Mix 1 at 8.

Snow Patrol's latest album Wildness, and Take That's reimagined greatest hits Odyssey close out the Top 10 at Numbers 9 and 10.

2018 releases that also sold well on cassette include Thirty Seconds To Mars, twenty one pilots and Manic Street Preachers, while Rick Astley, Courteeners, 5 Seconds of Summer, Arctic Monkeys and Blossoms also feature in the year-end Top 20.

The Official Top 40 Cassette Chart 2018

POS TITLE ARTIST PEAK 1 A BRIEF INQUIRY INTO ONLINE RELATIONSHIPS THE 1975 1 2 GOLDEN KYLIE MINOGUE 1 3 NO TOURISTS PRODIGY 1 4 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - AWESOME MIX 2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 2* 5 SWEETENER ARIANA GRANDE 1 6 DELTA MUMFORD & SONS 2 7 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC VARIOUS ARTISTS 2* 8 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - AWESOME MIX 1 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 2* 9 WILDNESS SNOW PATROL 2 10 ODYSSEY TAKE THAT 1 11 AMERICA 30 SECONDS TO MARS 4 12 TRENCH TWENTY ONE PILOTS 2 13 RESISTANCE IS FUTILE MANIC STREET PREACHERS 2 14 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY - OST QUEEN 3 15 BEAUTIFUL LIFE RICK ASTLEY 6 16 ST. JUDE RE:WIRED COURTEENERS 5 17 YOUNGBLOOD 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER 3 18 TRANQUILITY BASE HOTEL + CASINO ARCTIC MONKEYS 1 19 COOL LIKE YOU BLOSSOMS 4 20 MY MIND MAKES NOISES PALE WAVES 8 21 COLLAPSE APHEX TWIN 11 22 BUILD A TOWER SLOW READERS CLUB 18 23 NATURAL REBEL RICHARD ASHCROFT 4 24 PALO SANTO YEARS & YEARS 3 25 LIVING IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES JAMES 6 26 BACK IN BLACK AC/DC 27 27 THE 5.98 EP - GARAGE DAYS RE-REVISITED METALLICA 42 28 BE MORE KIND FRANK TURNER 3 29 THE STARS THE OCEANS & THE MOON ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN 11 30 SIMULATION THEORY MUSE 1 31 VI YOU ME AT SIX 6 32 THE NOW NOW GORILLAZ 5 33 THE LAST KING OF POP PAUL HEATON 10 34 RITUALS DEAF HAVANA 8 35 YOU ARE SOMEONE ELSE FICKLE FRIENDS 9 36 ENTER THE WU-TANG (36 CHAMBERS) WU-TANG CLAN 83 37 TECHNOLOGY DON BROCO 5 38 WORLD BEYOND ERASURE 47 39 STAYING AT TAMARA'S GEORGE EZRA 1 40 BLACK HONEY BLACK HONEY 33

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*Peak on the Official Compilations Chart