2012 was a very good year for rock Renaissance man Jack White. His first proper solo album, Blunderbuss, earned the guitar hero and former White Stripes frontman a fistful of high-profile GRAMMY nominations, including the coveted Album of the Year.

According to year-end Nielsen Soundscan tallies (via a release from White’s camp), his Blunderbuss also has the distinction of being the best-selling vinyl album of 2012 – an accolade that’s sure to please vinyl evangelist and Third Man Records owner White. Moving more than 33,000 copies on wax, Blunderbuss bested the vinyl version of the Beatles’ 1969 classic Abbey Road, which held the distinction for the previous three years running.

The numbers make White’s solo debut the highest-selling new vinyl release (as opposed to catalog titles like Abbey Road) since Nielsen began specifically charting vinyl sales in 2008.

A return to the warm crackle of vinyl has been on an upswing in recent years, with Nielsen also announcing that sales of vinyl sides were up 16.3 percent in 2012, with 3.2 million actual records being sold over the last 12 months. That followed a whopping 39 percent upswing in vinyl sales for 2011.

White was recently seen in a cameo role on a special Christmas episode of IFC comedy show Portlandia with Saturday Night Live cast member and show co-creator Fred Armisen.

-Scott T. Sterling, CBS Local

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