After a tumultuous year in dealing with digital music streaming platforms, many consumers opted to purchase physical media. Spotify et. al continued to pay artists a fraction of a cent for each song streamed in 2023, and a major sector of the public chose a more direct relationship with music by removing the algorithm’s buffer.
By the end of 2023, US vinyl sales surpassed two million, according to a report in Billboard. This reflects a certain norm that’s been established over the past decade. According to Variety in July, vinyl record sales for the first half of 2023 were up 21.7 percent from the same period the year before. This uptick echoed trends in 2022, which itself marked the 17th consecutive year that vinyl sales recorded an increase in the United States.
Over in the UK, the British Phonographic Industry reported that sales of vinyl rose for the 16th consecutive year in 2023, as reported in Resident Advisor. While the BPI’s final 2023 stats are still TBA, preliminary data shows that 5.9 million vinyl records were sold last year, representing an 11.7 percent increase year-on-year—the fastest growth this decade. The same report documented that people also bought nearly 11 million CDs—the format’s smallest annual decline in 10 years—and 100,000 tapes.
What accounts for this return to sounds in physical formats? A couple of things:
People enjoy having a centralized experience when listening to music.
Records, CDs, and cassettes all contain the album art, liner notes, information on the recording, and writing credits. No need to scour the internet to find out all of these things.
Listening to a project as a whole brings a different value to the trip.
Vinyl does sound better, especially when you own it.
Forget going back to the streaming platform, ducking ads, and suggestions on what else to listen to next. With physical media, you can focus on just one thing for a change.
With subscription services such as Vinyl Me Please, buyers are gently nudged into becoming connoisseurs with proper contextualization of artists, genres, and eras. The vinyl listening experience made possible without having to enter a record store. (We do recommend going to record stores, but when time is tight, these subscription services do provide a similar experience.)
Want to check out some records before you make the purchase? No problem, hit up the San Francisco Public Library. Bay Area residents explore both old and new tastes in the library’s vinyl section. Meaning, they’re not just stocking Taylor Swift (who continues to dominate vinyl sales). As reported by KQED, these were the 10 records San Franciscans checked out the most in 2023:
1. Kind of Blue by Miles Davis
2. The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
3. Evermore by Taylor Swift
4. Abbey Road by The Beatles
5. An Evening with Silk Sonic by Thundercat
6. Purple Rain by Prince
7. Folklore by Taylor Swift
8. Fine Line by Harry Styles
9. A Love Supreme by John Coltrane
10. Thriller 25 by Michael Jackson
