Following a 2.9% improvement in unit sales last year, the vinyl market in 2023 has, with just a few more days to go to year-end, increased more than four times as fast with an 11.7% rise to 5.9 million units,according to Music-News.
This is according to analysis of Official Charts data by the BPI, the association for the UK’s record companies and labels and the representative voice of British recorded music. The increase has been led by brand new releases from artists including Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Lewis Capaldi, The Rolling Stones, and Taylor Swift.
New releases top best sellers list
Seven of the 10 biggest vinyl LP sellers in the year to date is a 2023 new release, led by 1989 (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift and also including her album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and albums by Blur (The Ballad Of Darren), Lana Del Rey (Did You Know There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd), Lewis Capaldi (Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent), Kylie Minogue (Tension) and The Rolling Stones (Hackney Diamonds).
50 per cent of vinyl buyers in US don’t have a record player
It appears that "superfans" with a completist mindset are driving the trend.
According to Luminate, which recently published its Top Entertainment Trends for 2023 report, “50 per cent of consumers who have bought vinyl in the past 12 months own a record player, compared to 15per cent per cent among music listeners overall” [via Music Business Worldwide].
Luminate appears to have credited those statistics largely to “superfans” whom it defines as “music listeners who spend above average (median) time AND money on music, actively discover new music, participate in music-related activities on social media, and plan on attending a live music event in the next 12 months”. NME report.
The majority of music revenue (84 per cent in 2022) still comes from streaming services.
