Vinyl revival
Audiophiles and retro-heads rejoice: vinyl records shifted more units than CDs in 2022. That’s the first time vinyl has outsold CDs since 1987, completing an uprising that’s been brewing in the music industry for years.
While vinyl revenues passed CDs back in 2020, because of higher relative prices, this is the first time people have actually picked up more records than CDs. Indeed, data from the Recording Industry Association of America shows that 42m vinyls were sold last year, the most since 1989.
Sounds good
Vinyl's resurgence hasn't just been driven by the older generation getting a hit of nostalgia — last year’s best sellers, for example, came from the poppier end of the spectrum, with artists like Taylor Swift and Harry Styles taking top spots. Swift was particularly instrumental, with her latest album Midnights accounting for 1 in 25 vinyl sales in 2022.
With streaming now dominating the industry, vinyl's resurgence during Covid was striking. The pandemic was a great time for collectors to expand their stacks, with vinyl unit sales jumping from ~19m in 2019 to more than 40m just 2 years later.The other format victim, not shown above, has been downloads. Just 24m digital albums were sold last year according to the RIAA, down some 80% from their peak in 2013. Panic-buying an iTunes gift voucher doesn't work quite as well these days.
