Vinyl Records outsell CDs for the First Time Since 1987
Just over 41 million vinyl records were sold in 2022, to the tune of 1.2 billion Only 33 million CDs were sold, amounting to $483m.
It was the 16th consecutive year of growth for record sales, about 71% of physical format revenues.
Recorded music revenue in the US grew for the seventh consecutive year and reached a record high of 15.9 billion.
Overall, revenue for recorded music in 2022 increased by 6%, according to the report released by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), driven largely by streaming but also by physical music format sales.
Physical copies of music continued to perform better than digital downloads, the report found, which saw yet another decline in revenue, dropping by 20% to $495m. It's a stark contrast from the peak popularity digital downloads once held, having made up 43% of recorded music revenues in 2012. Since then, downloads have plummeted - to just 3% last year.
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