Britain’s vinyl revival has been boosted by pop star Taylor Swift with record sales hitting the highest level in nearly a quarter of a century.
Sales of vinyl have risen for the 16th consecutive year, according to a new music industry report.
Following a 2.9% increase in sales on last year, the vinyl market in 2023 has, with just a few more days to go until the end of the year, increased more than four times as fast with an 11.7% rise to 5.9 million units.
It’s not just vintage records by music legends such as David Bowie and The Beatles which are fuelling the retro renaissance,.
Analysis of Official Charts data by the BPI showed US songstress Swift is the year’s top vinyl seller.
The Shake It Off star’s decision to release multiple versions of her latest albums on LP was one reason sales of the format boomed among younger listeners.
Other modern artists such as Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, and Lewis Capaldi with their new releases this year also drove the sales boost.
While more than four-fifths of recorded music consumption in the UK is now made up of streaming, demand for vinyl LPs is at its highest annual level since 1990.
This includes over a quarter of a million vinyl albums having been sold during the course of last week, making it the highest sales week for the format this century.
In more good news for the industry, the CD market has sustained its smallest decline in nearly a decade this year as it moves closer to plateauing.
Nearly 11 million CDs, which remain important commercially and to Official Charts success, were sold across the year.
Meanwhile, sales of cassettes topped 100,000 units in a calendar year for the fourth consecutive year.
Similarly to vinyl records, brand new albums also lead the CD and cassette markets, with the 10 biggest titles in each market at this stage of the year, released in 2023.
Take That’s This Life is the year’s top CD, having sold more than 100,000 copies on the format during its first week of release in November, while the other most popular titles include albums Ed Sheeran’s -, Lewis Capaldi’s Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent, P!nk’s Trustfall, The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds and Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
Highlighting the appeal of cassettes to new music fans born decades after their original run, global teen popstar Olivia Rodrigo claimed the format’s top seller this year with her second album, Guts, while other popular cassette titles include 2023 releases from Blur (The Ballad Of Darren), Inhaler (Cuts & Bruises) and Kylie Minogue (Tension).
Dr Jo Twist OBE, BPI Chief Executive, said: “Led by vinyl, the resurgence of physical product underlines the resilience of the UK music market at a time when streaming consumption continues to hit record levels.
“Whilst LP sales have now been on an upward path for the past 16 years, it is encouraging to see a stabilisation in demand for CD, as well as new generations of music fans falling in love with the cassette. It is giving people more choice than ever in how they enjoy their favourite music.”
