Vinyl record sales have been on the rise for years, but according to the RIAA Music Industry Earnings 2022 End of Year Report (PDF), record sales reached a new high last year. For the first time since 1987, vinyl album sales surpassed CD sales, justifying all the people who have been saying for decades that vinyl “just sounds better”.
While vinyl record sales surpassed only CDs last year, vinyl record revenues have been surpassing CD revenues for some time now. In 2022, vinyl albums earned a total of $1.2 billion compared to $483 million for CDs. The increase in vinyl sales was more than enough to offset the decline in CD revenue, helping to increase overall physical media revenue by 4% compared to 2021 (which is already up significantly from 2020).
Streaming services continue to account for the vast majority of all U.S. music revenue, at 84%, up from 83% in 2021. ad-supported sites such as YouTube generated $13.3 billion. Growth in streaming services and physical media is driven by paid digital downloads, which accounted for just 3 percent of all music revenue in 2022.
There have always been people who have claimed that music played on vinyl sounds better than digital music, but that probably doesn’t explain the growing popularity of vinyl so long after CDs, MP3s, and streaming music. A vinyl album is large enough to be used as a piece of art, and there’s something appealing about the tangibility of physical objects in an age where media is becoming more and more ephemeral.
There is also an element of retro technology in the vinyl renaissance. Old 2000s-era digital cameras are now popular among high school and college students who grew up with smartphones, and there are strong communities involved in modifying and restoring old PCs, game consoles, typewriters, and many other things that have ostensibly been “replaced”by better alternatives. CDs and iPods are obsolete now, but they are apparently just one viral TikTok trend away from new relevance.
If you’re looking to start (or restart) your own vinyl collection, the format has become so popular that it’s prompted companies like Audio Technica, Sony, and Victrola to release new turntables with modern conveniences like Bluetooth connectivity.