Vinyl, you may have heard, has made a big comeback. In 2022, sales of vinyl albums surpassed compact discs (CDs) for the first time in more than three decades in terms of global revenue, racking up more than $1.2bn. That’s quite a remarkable turnaround when you consider that Rolling Stone magazine proclaimed the death of vinyl when contributing writer Fred Goodman wrote, “Recording Industry Preparing to Bury the LP” just as CD technology and cassette use were taking off.
That was 1984 and a lot has changed, of course. This tale of rebirth says a lot about our desire for physical media in a time of digital ubiquity.
Particularly notable about this revival story is that growth in demand for vinyl music is coming not just from Boomers, for whom 45s and then the LP were the dominant formats of their formative years, or from their Gen-X kids who, like me, grew up listening to mom and dad’s records spread out on the living room floor. It’s remarkable because, technostalgia notwithstanding, it’s the grandkids and kids of the Boomers and Gen-Xers who primarily experienced music via streaming services like iTunes and Spotify who are now driving a red-hot demand for the vinyl LP.
Don’t believe me? The three top-selling albums of 2023 in Canada were Taylor Swift’s 1989, Taylor Swift’s Speak Now, and Taylor Swift’s Midnights. Taylor Swift’s Red album also cracked the Top 10, along with other younger artists like Olivia Rodrigo (No 4) and Lana Del Rey (No 6). The rest of that list includes Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon (No 5), Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (No 8), and the recent Rolling Stones album, Hackney Diamonds (No 10). In the US, Swift albums accounted for 1 out of every 15 sold, or 7 per cent of all vinyl sales (nearly 3.5 million units).
This story is from the September 2024 edition of Record Collector.
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This story is from the September 2024 edition of Record Collector.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Paperback Blighters - The books every record collector should read.
The books every record collector should read. Vinyl, you may have heard, has made a big comeback. In 2022, sales of vinyl albums surpassed compact discs (CDs) for the first time in more than three decades in terms of global revenue, racking up more than $1.2bn.
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