Vinyl Sales in the US Hit Highest Levels Since 1991 – Report

Vinyl gross sales in the USA have reached highs not seen since 1991 due to the vacations. 

Knowledge from Luminate exhibits that 2.32 million vinyl albums have been bought within the week ending December 22–the final week earlier than Christmas. In accordance to Billboard, that’s the single-largest gross sales week for vinyl albums since Luminate started electronically monitoring music gross sales in 1991. Vinyl album gross sales within the US additionally reached the two+ million milestone in December 2021–exhibiting the eternal presence of albums as Christmas presents. 

Vacation procuring helped gasoline vinyl album gross sales by 46.7% within the week ending in December 22. Maybe unsurprisingly, the most well-liked album bought was Taylor Swift’s Midnights promoting 68,000 copies. A part of that success may be attributed to the provision of 5 vinyl variants–together with one unique to Goal. 

Vinyl album gross sales for the yr of 2022 stand at 41.891, which is a 3.6% enhance when in comparison with 2021. The vinyl format continues to make up the majority of all bodily album gross sales–with 63% of bodily gross sales within the vinyl format. Restricted inventory of factories in comparison with the massive variety of labels worldwide helps contribute to produce constraints for vinyl information.

The vinyl period of the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies peaked in 1978 with unit gross sales of 341 million and income of $2.5 billion earlier than a gradual decline. The vinyl market lastly bottomed out in 2005 at simply $14 million in gross sales that yr. However upticks in LP gross sales and have introduced in $1 billion by the tip of 2021, representing 7% of all music income and 12% of complete models bought. 

What are the motivating elements for a brand new technology who’re being uncovered to vinyl LPs for the primary time? An appreciation of the ‘authenticity’ and heat’ of vinyl information is the important thing motivating consider a research of vinyl customers from 2021. However vinyl ‘newbies’ are additionally inserting extra worth on the packaging and paintings of albums they devour–each previous and new.