riseofthevinyl

Rise of
The Vinyl
Designed by Timothy Egedus

Table of
Contents
The Vinyl Boom
1
Vinyl Record Sales (U.S.)
3
Vinyl Record Sales (U.K.)
5
Top-Selling Vinyl Records
7
Top-Selling Vinyl Records (2015)
9
Bringing in the Revenue
12
Vinyl Record Revenue
13
Where to Buy?
15
Top Five Vinyl Record Retailers
17
Why Vinyl?
19

The Vinyl Boom
Since the early 1990s, vinyl record sales have been skyrocketing.
According to Nielsen, an online music statistics site, U.S. album sales
between January and March of 2015 were 53% higher than last year,
driven largely by solid gains in “catalog album sales” (Brandle).
In the U.S., vinyl album sales have increased by 260% since 2009. Vinyl
unit sales rose to 9.2 million in 2014, up from 6.1 million in 2013.
1

In the U.K., sales reached a 20-year high, nearly 1.29 million units sold
in 2014. This is a 65.1% increase from the year prior where 780,764
were sold. Official Charts Company’s data reveals that this trend is
continuing at a steady pace.
2

Vinyl Reco
Percent Increase of Millions of Units Sold in the
U.S. from 2010-2014
2010-2.8 Million Units Sold
2011-3.8 Million Units Sold
2012-4.6 Million Units Sold
32.6% Increase
2012‐2013
2013-6.1 Million Units Sold
2014-9.2 Million Units Sold
35.7% Increase
2010‐2011
3

d Sales
50.8% Increase
2013‐2014
4

Vinyl Reco
Percent Increase of Millions of Units Sold in the
U.K. from 2010-2014
2010-234,471 Units Sold
130.5% Increase
2012‐2013
2011-337,041 Units Sold
2012-338,768 Units Sold
2013-780,764 Units Sold
2014-1,288,510 Units Sold
48.56% Increase
2010‐2011
5

d Sales
65.1% Increase
2013‐2014
6

Top-Selling
Vinyl Records
The Beatles 1969 album, Abbey Road, was the topselling
vinyl record for many years, but in 2012, Jack
White’s Blunderbuss surpassed that record, selling
34,000 units, while Abbey Road sold 30,000 units.
Taylor Swift’s 1989 matched that total in early 2015.
7

8

Top-Selling
Outer white ring represents Jack White’s
Lazaretto record, where 60,000 units have been
sold so far.
1. Taylor Swift
1989
34,000
2. Sufjan Stevens
Carrie & Lowell
32,000
3. Arctic Monkeys
AM
27,000
9

Records
Of 2015 so far
4. Alabama Shakes
Sound & Color
26,000
5. Miles Davis
Kind of blue
23,000
6. Sam Smith
In the Lonely Hour
23,000
10

11

Bringing in
the Revenue
CD sales and digital album sales have been on a downward spiral lately.
CDs are taking the biggest hit. In 2014, CD sales totalled 140.8 million
units sold, a decrease of 14.87%, compared to the year prior where 165.4
millions were sold. Digital album sales are also suffering. 111 million
units were sold in 2014 and 117.6 million units sold in 2013, a decrease
of 5.6%.
While CD and digital album sales are declining, vinyl record sales are
climbing and bringing in revenue. In 2014, vinyl record sales totalled
347 million U.S. dollars. In the first half of 2015, vinyl records have raked
in $226 million.
12

13
Vinyl Recor

of course, restores this ability.”
d Revenue
in Millions of U.S. Dollars
14

Where to Buy?
The rise in popularity of vinyl makes it very easy to find and purchase
records at stores and online. Amazon, currently the top retailer for
vinyl sales, makes purchasing them very easy at the comfort of your
own home. In a matter of seconds you can purchase the record you
want and have it shipped to you. If you prefer to sift through someone’s
milk crate vinyl collection, you can head over to Urban Outfitters,
which was the top vinyl seller in 2013.
15

16

TOP Five
Vinyl Record
12.3%
Amazon
8.1%
Urban Outfitters
2.7%
Hastings Entertainment
2.4%
Hot Topic
2.1%
Trans World Entertainment
17

Retailers
18

Why Vinyl?
Many people choose vinyl over digital because it emits a clearer,
warmer, and richer sound. Jon Lloyd, a music genre specialist at Juno
Records, says that digital music has been its own worst advertisement
over the last decade because “[y]ou can set up a digital music label for
a [relatively] very low cost meaning the market is flooded with record
labels that aren’t particularly high on quality control.” The low quality
music that is being produced gives us insight as to why people are
choosing vinyl records over digital music.
Older people who grew up listening and owning a vinyl collection
are experiencing nostalgia and are also contributing to vinyl sales.
However, the youth is also purchasing vinyl records, and it has a large
part to do with the physicality of the record.
Vinyl records offer us something that a digital file does not. A vinyl
record is tangible and the act of putting on a record makes listening to
it a little more peronal and special rather than listening to a playlist that
can go on for hours. Many vinyl records also include a reedemable mp3
download of that album with a customer purchase. A vinyl collection
is also something that everyone can see and gives them insight as to
what kind of music you enjoy listening to.
19

“What we display in public is used to send social signals
about our identities. Making our taste in music visible has
historically played an important role in such signalling for
many people. Owning a vinyl collection, of course, restores
this ability.”
—Nik Pollinger
Digital Anthropologist
20