Letter: Musical memory

Published on 10/04/2012 00:00

YOUR list of the best-selling albums of all time (9 April) made for interesting reading, but I don’t think Queen, The Beatles, Abba, Oasis and Michael Jackson made the top five merely because more people had bought their most famous records.

I reckon it’s more to do with repeat purchasing. Over time many of us have bought the same album in more than one format – going from vinyl to CD, cassette to download, or several variations of the above.

And of course, there’s the very common occurrence of having to replace albums that were “lost in the fire”. This, among my friends, is a euphemism for records or CDs that one party has to give up when they split from a partner.

I personally spent 20 years slowly replacing albums that my ex-wife hid from me when I moved out from our shared house.

And those top-selling albums your report mentions were certainly included.

JERRY FERGUSON

Maryhill Road

Glasgow