Vinyl Outsells CD’s For The First Time In Over 30 Years

The year was 1987 that vinyl records last sold more than CDs…until now. According to a new report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) last year, vinyl records were again winners over CDs. Music fans bought more than 41 million vinyl units last year compared to 33 million CDs — up 3% from 40 million units in 2021.

CD sales took a 28% dive from 47 million.  Which artist sold the most vinyl? Taylor Swift with 945,000 copies of Midnights, followed by Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (480,000), Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR (263,000), Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city (254,000), and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (243,000).

Streaming is by far the biggest way fans got their music making up 84% of the all-time high of $15.9 billion overall. Paid music subscribers grew to 92 million from 84 million in 2021.