It may be nostalgia, but vinyl records managed to beat CDs in sales last year.
Vinyl records outsold CDs for the first time since 1987 — that’s over 30 years. A total of 41 million vinyl albums were sold in 2022, roughly 8 million more than the 33 million CDs sold in the same time, according to a report released Thursday by the Recording Industry Association of America.
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Vinyl record sales beating music CD sales follows the trend of growing demand for vinyl — sales have increased steadily for the last 16 years. Revenue from vinyl records grew 17% to $1.2 billion in 2022, accounting for 71% of physical format revenues.
Vinyl saw a jump in demand in 2021 and 2022 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The demand for CDs saw a decrease in 2022, with the format’s revenue falling 18% to $483 million.
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Despite demand increasing for vinyl, streaming is still the most popular way consumers listen to music. Recorded music revenues in the United States made up 84% of revenue last year, compared to the 11% by physical media.
Digital downloads continued to see a decrease in demand in 2022, making up only 3% of U.S. recorded music revenues, a far cry from when the format peaked in demand at 43% of revenue in 2012. Compared to 2021, revenue from digitally downloaded music decreased by 20% to $495 million.
