21-05-2025
Woman discovers 1998 Woolworths receipt for Aqua album - and fans are nostalgic about more than just the prices
A woman has caused a stir online after she revealed how much she paid for an Aqua album from Woolworths in 1998.
Kayley Arnold shared a picture of the receipt on Facebook, leaving social media users shocked by the £11 price.
The post was captioned: 'I still have the receipt in my AQUA CD case. 14.2.1998. I was only 12! Many moons ago'.
Fans of the band flocked to the comments section to point out that, with inflation, the Aquarium album would be priced much higher today.
One person wrote: 'According to the Bank of England Inflation Calculator, £11 in 1998 would be £21.04 now.
'I wonder how many people in 2025 would happily pay £21 for a CD album.'
Another added: 'It's kinda crazy that with inflation and everything having shot right up compared to those days, that music/CD's have either stayed the same or even got cheaper. No wonder artists are f*****!'
And it wasn't just the cheap album price that left fans nostalgic, as some expressed how they miss the 'good old' days of CDs.
'Oh I do miss the excitement for popping into town after school and going into woolies to buy your favourite CD. Good times', one person said.
A second added: 'Nowadays you pay that to stream almost any song in existence from anybody.
'The days of buying a cd or video were much more exciting than having everything at your fingertips whenever you want.'
A third wrote: 'My ow my I'll never say goodbye to Aqua, but I wish I could turn back time to the good old days of CDs, while a fourth said, 'Wasn't life so much better then and the shops'.
Someone else commented: 'Love this!! I bought this album too. I loved aqua. I loved Woolworths. 1998, What nostalgia.'
Aquarium is the debut studio album by Danish band Aqua, released on March 26 1997.
The album is best known for including the globally successful single 'Barbie Girl', as well as the popular track 'Lollipop'.
After the success of Barbie Girl, Aqua went on to produce three studio albums, Aquarium in 1997, Aquarius in 2000 and Megalomania in 2011.
The band, formed in 1989, was comprised of Lene, René, a spikey-haired Søren and guitarist Claus Norreen.
It comes after last year data showed that vinyls are fast becoming one of the most popular forms of music.
Gross income from vinyl is set to overtake CDs for the first time since they fell out of favour in the 1980s.
A report published by Spotifiy's former economist, Will Page, found that records will bring in more than $1bn (£787m) for labels in the US alone by the end of 2024.
Mr Page wrote: 'Globally, vinyl will soon overtake CDs — a real sign of the format times.'
However, it isn't vinyl's superior sound quality which is behind this trend, as studies have shown that half of record buyers don't even own a turntable.
Instead, experts suggested that fans are snapping up vinyl as a form of merchandise which gives them a feeling of connection to the bands they love.
In 2024, big artists like Taylor Swift, Adele, and Billie Eilish all jumped on the trend, releasing multiple, expensive physical variations of the same albums.
Although vinyl records were deemed all but obsolete after the rise of CDs and digital streaming, the format has seen a stunning resurgence in recent years.
Writing in Billboard Pro, Mr Page said that vinyl sales have 'surpassed expectations' for each of the last 18 years.
In 2023, record labels' income grew by 12 per cent, mainly driven by a 10 per cent rise in the value of streaming.
However, last year's report shows that vinyl actually grew faster than streaming in percentage terms - up 15.4 per cent on the year before.
In 2019, industry analysts hailed a vinyl revival when revenues hit $504 million (£397m), the highest figure since 1988.
