Taylor Swift’s global appeal has led to a resurgence in sales of vinyl records — especially in the United Kingdom, where hot wax flew off shelves at the highest level since 1990.
The US has also seen the demand for vinyl spike as a new generation of music junkies ditch high-tech streaming services for a more retro listening format, The NY Post reports.
Revenue from vinyl records grew 1% to $632 million and accounted for 72% of physical format revenues, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
Across the pond, vinyl sales surged 11.7% this year, to 5.9 million units, according to CNN, citing figures released Thursday by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), an association of UK record companies and labels.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Swift’s “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” album sold the most copies — capping off a blockbuster year for Time magazine’s Person of the Year, whose record-breaking “Eras Tour” earned her billionaire status.
The album, which was originally released in 2014, was re-released as “Taylor’s Version” on Oct. 27 — part of the 34-year-old’s effort to rerecord all of her discography previously owned by Scooter Braun.
The No. 2 and No. 3 spots were nabbed by The Rolling Stones’ “Hackney Diamonds” and Lana Del Rey’s “Did You Know Know There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” respectively.
In the US, physical music sales — which includes vinyl records, CDs and cassette tapes — saw a revival in the first half of 2023, though streamers like Spotify and Apple Music maintained their market dominance, accounting for 84% of the total revenues in the same six-month period, CNN reported, citing RIAA’s findings. For comparison, in the UK, 80% of recorded music is listened to on streaming platforms, according to the BPI.
Paid subscriptions were the “strongest driver” of revenue growth, RIAA said.
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