James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 soundtrack is the third highest selling vinyl record of the decade. The director shared the surprising news on social media after Nielson Music SoundScan released their end of the decade report. Records have come back in a major way over the past ten years for music fans who like to hold something tangible in their hands as opposed to streaming and the mostly-dead world of CDs.

Nielsen Music SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system that tracks music and video sales in the United States and Canada. The data is collected weekly and the decade list was just revealed. The list finds that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has found itself as a big contender in the vinyl business. James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy is the third highest selling vinyl album in the last ten years, which is pretty big. It's only behind The Beatles' Abbey Road and Pink Floyd's iconic Dark Side of the Moon album.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 sold a total of 367,000 physical copies in a decade. Physical record sales have been down ever since file sharing came around to the masses in the late 1990s. CDs died off and piracy reigned supreme for over a decade. This number does not include CD sales, MP3 sales, or the millions of times the soundtrack has been streamed. James Gunn was shocked by the news, but it makes sense, especially considering how big the movie was and how well-received the soundtrack was. In addition, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is in the top 50, coming in at 44. As for an international list of the highest selling vinyl albums of the decade, the first installment comes in at number four, which is also impressive.

Tracks from the 60s and 70s tracks including "Spirit in the Sky," "Come and Get Your Love," and "Hooked on a Feeling" fueled the creative mixtape that James Gunn put together for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. Gunn's excitement for music carried over for the sequel and even helped influence the rest of the MCU. Now, the pressure is on for Gunn to come up with yet another awesome mixtape for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which will be coming down the line in the next few years.

Nielsen SoundScan's decade overlook reveals that Drake had the biggest decade for overall streaming, while Adele's 21 had the biggest decade in album sales. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk!" topped the decade's single sales chart. Ten years of music and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 ends up being the third highest selling vinyl album of the decade. That's pretty big, even for Marvel Studios, who just seems to be breaking records left and right these days. You can check out James Gunn's Instagram post below, along with the rest of the top ten vinyl albums of the decade.