Blog Post #3: Aslan | Soundscape

The Resurgence of Vinyl and
Its Relation to CD Trends

AUTHOR | ASLAN SHAHID DATE PUBLISHED | NOVEMBER 10, 2023

The way music is listened to has continuously evolved overtime with changes in technology. We’ve seen the music industry shift from the gramophone in the late 1800s, to vinyl records in the 1940s, cassettes in the 1960s, compact discs (CDs) in the 1980s, and now digital streaming in the 21st century. Often older technologies lose relevancy as newer ones arise, but vinyl records have had an interesting life cycle that conflicts this notion.

The Golden Years of Vinyl

The precursor to vinyl dates back to 1877 when the phonograph was invented, providing record labels, musicians, and listeners an analog way of both producing and recording sound. Originally the recording discs were made from a shellac compound that affected audio quality. By the 1940s polyvinyl chloride (PVC) became the go to material for the recording discs, affecting the audio quality far less than the shellac compound. These vinyl records were also known as long playing records (LPs) as they provided more time to play music on each side. This kickstarted the album era as musicians and record labels were able to make a larger collection of songs. The beginning of the album era in the 1950s had made vinyl the most popular music listening method throughout the 20th century.

However, advancements in audio technology ultimately caused the downfall of vinyl recordings. Audio cassettes in the 1960s were the next development in analog audio technology, but the music industry was destined to move towards a digital format. The compact disc (CD) debuted in the 1980s, and quickly replaced vinyl as a more accessible and higher quality medium.

The Vinyl Revival

CDs dominated the music industry from the 1990s to 2000s. In 2000, CD sales revenue totalled $20 billion, by 2010 revenue had diminished to $4 billion, (Nover, 2022). In the midst of CD sales dropping, a resurgence of vinyl sales began to form over the past decade. CD sales had remained well above vinyl throughout the 1990s to 2010s, however, in 2021 for the first time since the 1980s, vinyl records shockingly surpassed CDs. Midnights by Taylor Swift was one of 2022’s best selling albums and sold 945,000 vinyl copies, making it the highest selling vinyl album of the year, (Caulfield, 2023). While vinyl records are far from the success the medium had experienced during the 1950s-80s, the rise of vinyl sales in recent years has been significant for artists and labels, as 43% of all albums purchased in the United States in 2022 were vinyl LPs, (Caulfield, 2023).

Vinyl albums have steadily grown in popularity
from 2010 after decades of low sales.

After 20 years of success, CD sales have continuously declined.

In comparison to CDs, vinyl LPs do not have better audio quality as the sound is more compressed on vinyl, the vinyl discs are known to degrade over time, and the vinyl is not as compact as CDs are, (Matthews, 2014). Despite the disadvantages of vinyl records, this form of music listening has connected deeply with many different fanbases. Below are the top ten best selling vinyl albums of 2022, (Doherty, 2023):

1. Taylor Swift – Midnights

2. Harry Styles – Harry’s House

3. Arctic Monkeys – The Car

4. Liam Gallagher – C’mon You Know

5. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

6. Wet Lag – Wet Lag

7. The 1975 – Being Funny in a Foreign Language

8. Arctic Monkeys – AM

9. Fontaines DC – Skinty Fia

10. Muse – Will of The People

The best selling vinyl albums of 2022 seem to be a mixture of pop and rock artists which is significant as pop and rock were the most prominent genres during the peak of vinyl album sales (1950s-80s). An important factor for the success of these vinyl albums is that these artists and bands have cultivated loyal fan bases that wish to support their favourite artists by purchasing physical albums. Purchasing physical albums during the covid-19 pandemic acted as a way for fans to support artists as going to concerts and venues was no longer possible, (Nover, 2022). Nostalgia remains a significant factor as fans who grew up with vinyl albums in their homes continue to listen to purchase these LPs. These factors combined have significantly impacted the popularity of vinyl in recent years.

The Future of Physical Albums

Currently in 2023, digital streaming remains on top above all other forms of music consumption. However, the recent rise of vinyl album sales has indicated that even in the streaming era of music there’s still a place for physical album purchases. Although CD sales have been declining, recent trends suggest CDs following a similar path as vinyl. In 2021, CD sales in the United States were at 584 million, the first time since 2004 that there has been an increase in CD sales, (Rau, 2022). For many music listeners there is a need for physical media and like vinyl there has been a growing nostalgia for the CD era. If this trend continues the music industry can expect CDs to join vinyl in a resurgence of physical albums.

Citations

Caulfield, K. (2023, January 11). U.S. Vinyl Album Sales Rise for 17th Straight Year — But Growth Is Slowing. Billboard. https://www.billboard.com/pro/vinyl-album-sales-rise-growth-slowing/

Doherty, K. (2023, January 4). Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Arctic Monkeys top vinyl sales chart for 2022. The Vinyl Factory. https://thevinylfactory.com/news/uk-vinyl-charts-2022/

‌Matthews, D. (2014, April 19). Vinyl’s great, but it’s not better than CDs. Vox; Vox. https://www.vox.com/2014/4/19/5626058/vinyls-great-but-its-not-better-than-cds

Rau, N. (2022, March 11). CD sales grow for first since 2004. Axios. https://www.axios.com/2022/03/11/cd-sales-grow-for-first-time-since-2004

Richter, F. (2019, April 12). Infographic: The Surprising Comeback of Vinyl Records. Statista Infographics; Statista. https://www.statista.com/chart/7699/lp-sales-in-the-united-states/

Richter, F. (2021, March 5). Infographic: The Rise and Fall of the Compact Disc. Statista Infographics; Statista. https://www.statista.com/chart/12950/cd-sales-in-the-us/