The turnover of vinyl records increased by 4% in 2022 year on year, to 1.7 billion dollars, according to data released Thursday, March 9, 2023 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Revenues from vinyl had already exceeded the CD market in 2020, but for the first time, the number of these traditional “wafers”, with black A and B sides and analog playback, is higher than that of small compact discs and developed in the 1980s. 41 million vinyls against 33 million CDs were thus sold in 2022 across the Atlantic.
Streaming remains the undisputed market leader
By a double effect of fashion and nostalgia, while it had almost disappeared, the vinyl record has made a comeback in recent years, reviving the manufacture of turntables with analog reading heads, sometimes of very good quality and at a high price. That said, streaming music still reigns supreme with $13.3 billion in revenue in 2022, or 84% of the $15.9 billion earned by the music industry.
