Tesco to become the the first U.K. supermarket to stock vinyl records

The boom in the black wax market makes this a fairly unsurprising grab at a slice of a burgeoning area. Vinyl sales have hit their highest levels in 20-odd years, and by April this year, they'd already risen 70% on the year before.

The household chain's not exactly grabbing the bull by the horns though; don't expect the Tesco Value Vintage Section or any Record Store Day releases... Iron Maiden are releasing new LP The Book Of Souls through 55 Tesco Extra stores later this month.

Tesco music buyer Michael Mulligan says to Music Business Worldwide: “In the last year we began selling record decks in our largest stores and initial sales are very encouraging so giving our customers some new vinyl to play on those decks seems like the logical next step. If this trial is a success then we would consider selling more vinyl albums before the end of the year.”

The LP comes with a promotion - if you buy it on vinyl or CD, you can buy a bottle of the metal legends' own beer Trooper for a quid. Bargain.

Iron Maiden's co-Manager Dave Shack says of the partnership: “It was a proud moment when the UK’s biggest supermarket created a landmark opportunity for us to present our fans with a one-stop shop for our brand new album and award winning Trooper beer. We have put a lot of energy into all our formats of the new record but the vinyl has to be one of the most impressive packages I have ever seen. It’s a triple gatefold sleeve housing six sides of premium 180g vinyl and incorporates some unique, quite spectacular artwork across the whole package – something that can only be done with vinyl due to the space this format offers. Celebrating the release of this album with a special price on our Trooper beer felt like a great way of saying cheers to our fans. We sincerely hope they like both!”