WCCO is looking back at 2024 in the “Year in Review” and local music fans didn’t shy away from buying albums at Minneapolis’ biggest local music store, the Electric Fetus.
Chappell Roan’s “Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” topped Electric Fetus’s top 20 selling albums list for the year.
And there he was, at number two, Minneapolis’ favorite musical export Prince. The biggest sensation in music across the globe was Taylor Swift but she was only number four in the Twin Cities. 47 years after its release, Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album rounded out the top 20 as Minnesota’s music fans continued to embrace that classic record.
Jim Novak is Electric Fetus’ music buyer and says a local artist was also a big draw, coming in at number three.
“We have a local artist, Hippo Campus that outsold Taylor Swift this year,” says Novak. “Unbelievable, right?”
Speaking of unbelievable, Novak says the vinyl craze isn’t dying, which is good news for WCCO Radio fans (you can still pick up our 100th Anniversary vinyl album here).
“Vinyl is, it’s a more in-depth, a closer, more visceral experience interacting with the music,” Novak explains. “You sit there and you listen to it.”
As for what could top the “top albums list” next year? Novak says 2025 could be the year of another local legend, Bob Dylan.
“The new Timothee Chalamet movie is coming out, and I think that that has the opportunity to introduce a whole generation to one another one of Minnesota’s great musicians,” he says.
Novak also says record stores have become a place for families to share time with one another.
“Parents and grandparents are coming in and they’re showing their kids Motown and the Beach Boys and the Beatles and the kids are showing their parents, you know, Chappell Roan, and Charli XCX,” he said. And they have these almost spirited debates about, you know, what what music like for them.”
The year in music included a number of stars such as Toby Keith, Kris Kristofferson, and Liam Payne who all passed away. Novak says they see a boost in customers seeking artists who have recently died.
“Yeah, and it does, it seems a little bit morbid,” says Novak. “Like, yes, as the music buyer of a record store, am I watching the obituaries? And yeah, it is a little morbid. But the the flip side of that is that we want people to celebrate music and it’s just another way for that to happen. And so we we celebrate musicians every day here in the shop.”
Electric Fetus Top 20
1- Chappel Roan – Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
2- Prince & The Revolution – Purple Rain
3- Hippo Campus – Flood
4- Taylor Swift – Tortured Poets Department
5- Charli XCX – Brat
6- Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft
7- St. Vincent – All Born Screaming
8- Brigitte Calls Me Baby – The Future is Our Way Out
9- Noah Kahan – Stick Season
10- Hozier – Hozier
11- Green Day Saviors
12- Jack White – No Name
13- Gracie Abrams – Secret of Us
14- Bad Bad Hats – Bad Bad Hats
15- Decemberists – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
16- Jeff Buckley – Grace
17- Waxahatcheetigers- Blood
18- Radiohead – In Rainbows
19- Melanie Martinez – Portals
20- Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
