The Vinyl Comeback Continues

Continuing one of the more surprising comebacks of the digital age, vinyl album sales in the United States have grown for the 15th consecutive year. In 2020, 27.5 million LPs were sold in the United States, up 46 percent compared to 2019 and more than 30-fold compared to 2006 when the vinyl comeback began.

So how big is vinyl's comeback really? Should we all dust off our old record players to prepare for the future of music? According to MRC Data's 2020 Year-End Music report, LPs accounted for 27 percent of album sales in the United States, which is quite substantial. Factoring in streaming and downloads of single tracks, however, that number drops to 3.6 percent of album equivalent music consumption, which puts things in perspective.

However small the impact of rising LP sales on the music industry’s bottom line may be, it’s still interesting to witness a hundred year-old technology come back from near extinction. Here's to hoping we don't need to dig up our old VHS tapes for the future of video consumption.