Vinyl records outsold CDs in the US for the first time in 35 years, according to a new report by the Recording Industry Association of America..While digital remains the go-to for many Americans, vinyl records made up 71% of the revenue from physical sales with US$1.2 billion spent on records in 2022. In comparison, receipts from CDs only garnered $482.6 million during the same time period..Furthermore, listeners bought more records than CDs for the first time since 1987, with approximately 41 million vinyl records sold in 2022 compared to 33 million CDs..It marked the 16th consecutive year of increasing sales for vinyl records..The music industry as a whole continues to flourish, with total revenue in the US at $15.9 billion, a 6% increase over the previous year..Streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music made up much of the total revenue with 84% of the market share — exceeding $10 billion for the first time — while digital downloads saw a fall in revenue down to $495 million from $622 million the previous year..The growth of streaming cannot be understated; there were 92 million active subscriptions in 2022, a figure almost double that of 2018 when 46.8 millions accounts existed..On the contrary, digital downloads — which accounted for 43% of revenue in the industry a decade prior — now only comprises for 3% of all revenue in 2022.
