Vinyl records have enjoyed their biggest week in sales in the US since 1991.
According to Luminate, 2.2million vinyl albums were sold in the week ending December 22, the highest figure it has ever recorded since it began electronically tracking music sales, Billboard reports. Indeed, this is the second time since 1991 that vinyl sales have crossed the 2million mark – the first time this happened was only last year, where 2.1million records were sold in the week ending December 23, 2021.
In the week leading up to Christmas, vinyl sales grew by nearly 50% from the previous week, most likely bolstered by people shopping for Christmas gifts. That week, the biggest-selling record was ‘Midnights’ by Taylor Swift, which moved 68,000 units.
Vinyl counted for 57 per cent of overall album sales in the US in that week and 63% of all physical album sales.
Last year, vinyl albums outsold CDs in America for the first time in 30 years. A similar pattern has occurred in the UK – vinyl sales exceeded CD sales for the first time this year, with ‘Midnights’ once again leading the way in terms of sales figures [per The Guardian].
“It’s a watershed moment for the entire music industry,” Kim Bayley, the chief executive of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) told The Guardian. “After the CD came along and pretty much wiped out the vinyl business, few of us would have believed a renaissance like this was possible.”
New research from earlier this year also found that the only physical entertainment format that is currently shifting more units than vinyl is Nintendo Switch games.