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Saturday, December 30, 2023

Vinyl Sales Reach New Heights


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.

The figure marks a four-fold increase in sales from 2022, and the 16th consecutive year of increased vinyl sales, CNN reported, as a new generation of music junkies ditch high-tech streaming services for a more retro listening format.

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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