Vinyl Just Had Its Biggest Sales Week in Over 30 Years

Vinyl continues to be one of the most popular physical music formats in the U.S., as it just had its biggest sales week in over 30 years.

Billboard reports that over 2.2 million vinyl records were sold in the U.S. during the week ending in Dec. 22, which is its largest sales week since Luminate started counting music sales in 1991. Vinyl saw a 46.7 percent increase in sales that week as compared to the week prior, which implies that records were a popular gift for the holidays.

Vinyl sales also made up 57 percent of total album sales that week, with CDs, cassettes, other physical formats and digital downloads making up the other 43 percent.

It’s the second year in a row that the weekly vinyl sales record was broken — over 2.1 million units were sold in the U.S. during the same week (ending in Dec. 23) in 2021. These are the only two instances since 1991 where weekly vinyl sales surpassed 2 million units. But the popularity of vinyl continues to grow in general, as yearly sales were up 3.6 percent in 2022 compared to 2021.

Unsurprisingly, Taylor Swift’s latest release Midnights was the top-selling vinyl of the week, with 68,000 copies sold. However, it was also the top-selling vinyl record of the year, having sold a whopping 575,000 copies in its first week [via Billboard].

Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, Adele’s 30, Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour, Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version), Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, The Beatles’ Abbey Road, Tyler, the Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost and Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever claimed the rest of the spots in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Year-End Vinyl Albums chart.