The 10 best-selling indie and alternative albums of 2023
In 2023, we saw The Beatles return with new music thanks to the miracle of technology and land their 21st number one single. We also saw their old rivals, The Rolling Stones, dish out their first new record of original material since 2005, and even Metallica had huge success, while our fixed obsession with Lana Del Rey was also reaffirmed.
Each of the aforementioned releases were huge commercial successes. Therein lies the complex predicament of the economics of modern music. Contrary to what you might read, there is still huge sums of money in music. However, that money is concentrated to the already well-known names of the industry. Meanwhile, it is as hard to breakthrough as ever for emerging bands with venues closing around them and huge handouts to the powers that be cutting profits. This perpetuates the problem because emerging artists struggle to promote themselves enough to become financially viable.
This was highlighted when Far Out spoke to Ben Woods of UK band The Golden Dregs, who explained: “The Golden Dregs are touring as a six-piece band, which is no easy feat. But the textures and vocal harmonies in the recordings are an important part of the band’s makeup, so to strip it back to anything less than that would make it something else. But this does make touring expensive. The total cost of our upcoming US tour (which includes headline shows in NYC and LA, plus appearances at SXSW and Treefort Festival) is in the region of £20,000.”
Continuing, Woods added: “A huge chunk of this is for visas, and unfortunately, we got stung with these as we put in for them last autumn, just as the mini-budget tanked the UK economy and the pound took a nosedive. They cost us over £6,000. It’s our first trip, so fees are very low. We have received PRS funding, which is amazing, but they only provide funding for up to four-piece bands, so this has made a £4,000 dent in our total. And we have tour support from our record label, which would be enough to cover the trip but would then mean that we’re unable to tour for the rest of the year, as our fees in Europe and the UK still don’t allow us to break even on the road”.
Summing up the eye-watering proposition, Woods explained: “So with fees, funding and tour support, we still have a deficit of £7,500, which we are currently trying to fundraise“.
When presented with these startling figures, it quickly becomes clear why no breakthrough acts even approached being among the best-sellers of 2023, even in the alternative world. While it was a year resplendent with diverse quality, evidenced in our best albums of 2023 list, none of these were able to launch themselves to compete with the old stalwarts.
However, the flipside of this unfortunate position is that it has perhaps led to artists pursuing music as more of a passion project, meaning that we are graced with greater individuality rather than trend chasing. This was touched upon when we spoke to Ryan Dann of the Holland Patent Public Library, who explained, “I have enough money to survive. I’m not wildly rich. But I have enough.“
Adding: “I try and really live what I think of as the ideal artistic life. It is not just a hobby, or a side hustle or a main hustle. It’s just every part of your day is integrated with this creative project. Everything that’s coming into you, you’re trying to figure out how to integrate it with your motivation, your career, your creative energy. So, when I get to write music, that’s the fulfilment of that ideal.“ And as far as commercialism goes, that’s just an afterthought and he merely hopes he earns enough to sustain his lifestyle.
And perhaps, in years to come, he’ll be among the names below. Because these artists have at least proved that for the select few, there’s still some money in alternative music. The list was compiled thanks to data from Discogs. And as a festive treat, at the foot of the piece, we’ve given you a playlist of the 50 records we think deserve to be at the top of the commercial tree.
Best-selling indie and alternative albums:
- Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel… – Lana Del Rey
- Hackney Diamonds – The Rolling Stones
- 72 Seasons – Metallica
- Memento Mori – Depeche Mode
- In Times New Roman – Queens of the Stone Age
- The Record – Boygenius
- Take Me Back to Eden – Sleep Token
- Everything is Alive – Slowdive
- The Ballad of Darren – Blur
- Portals – Melanie Martinez
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