The Resurgence of Vinyl – Pt 3

Well, where do we start?

2015 marked the 10th year in a row that Vinyl sales have shown an increase in sales. In 2015, 11.29 million Vinyl units were sold. This is up from 9.2 million units in 2014. 2.1 million MORE units than the previous year!! How cool is that!?!? These sales figures are proving that Vinyl is no longer a fringe music format enjoyed by only the purist audiophile. Will Vinyl become so popular that it will overtake the giants in the streaming industry? More than likely no but it is proving that even though there are audio formats that have superior sound quality (that is up for debate of course), Vinyl can survive and even flourish.

Above I touched on the further growth of Vinyl record sales. As impressive as they are there are some other sales milestones that were hit. Below are the Top 10 selling Vinyl albums from 2015.

1. Adele – 25 (116,000)
2. Taylor Swift – 1989 (74,000)
3. Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon (50,000)
4. The Beatles – Abbey Road (49,800)
5. Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue (49,000)
6. Arctic Monkeys – AM (48,000)
7. Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (44,900)
8. Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color (44,600)
9. Hozier – Hozier (43,000)
10. Various Artists – Guardians Of The Galaxy Soundtrack (43,000)

Of the 11.92 million units sold in 2015, 116,000 were Adele’s 25! This is an amazing number and according to Nielsen sales, it is the best-selling title in a single year since 1991! The other interesting item to note here is it is a mix of classic and newer artists showing that Vinyl has become an intergenerational music format.

There has been another interesting subculture that has risen with Vinyl and that is the resurgence of the audiophile. I know what you’re saying. You’ve been here the whole time loving music. I’m not questioning that. What I’m getting at here is there are now thousands of blogs dedicated to Vinyl whereas before they were hidden in the periphery. In fact, if you Google “Vinyl Record Blogs” you will come back with 1.3 million hits! What does this all mean? To me it means that Vinyl is here to stay. It means that audiophile’s love of music will never cease nor will their love for Vinyl. Blogs may have replaced visiting the record store for hours but the love of music is still there and that is why witnessing Vinyl continue to grow in popularity is so exciting!

As this is another blog entry on Vinyl I am guessing you can now understand how much I enjoy this music format. It is a format that lends itself to the experience of music, not just the playing of music. Jacket art, liner notes, the smell when you take the album out, these are what I mean. They are not replicated by any other format and they never will be. If you are new to Vinyl or wonder what all the fuss is about, stop by your local London Drugs and ask an Audio/Video Specialist to spin some Vinyl for you. I am sure you will become hooked.

Josh Halliday
@LD_StVital