Vinyl Surpasses CDs in Sales for the First Time Since the ’80s

I have been a music lover since early childhood when my brother stationed in Japan in the Air Force, sent me a transistor radio for my birthday. That thing stayed attached to my ear for many years, that is how I got the radio bug. I remember buying 45’s, the little records with a big hole in the middle. Then LP’s came along, Long Play albums. Vinyl always sounded so sweet. Then we of course had the wonderful 8-track players, followed by cassette tapes, and finally the Compact Disc. CD’s were the thing by Mid to Late 80’s. CD’s ruled until well into the 2000’s when streaming became popular. How can you go wrong with Spotify, or Apple Music, or any of the streaming services? They have a much bigger song collection than any of us do, whole albums or individual songs, all available to play anytime for $15-20 dollars a month. That is the cost of some CD’s. Streaming is very profitable, in the first six months of 2020 streaming services grossed $4,800,000,000. But many also like to have the actual product in our personal collections.

WILX reports "What is old is always new again, and latest sales figures show CD’s are out, and vinyl is back! Retro record sales have outdone CD sales so far in 2020. That has not happened since the 1980′s. In fact, record sales almost doubled that of CDs at $230,000,000.”

I bought a turntable about 5 years ago, and have been collecting vinyl again myself. I go to the record sales where you can get great deals on vinyl, they happen about once a quarter in Lansing. With all the time we’ve all had on our hands during the pandemic, listening to your favorite music is a great pastime.

USA Today reports “Data from Billboard also suggests that Americans are feeling the nostalgia of vinyl. The first week in September marked the biggest week in 2020 for album sales, and vinyl record sales have been growing for 14 years straight. Despite the rise in vinyl listening, overall physical sales dropped 23% to $376 million during the first half of the year as Americans lost jobs and concerts were canceled, according to the RIAA data."

Scratches and all, the awesome analog sounds of vinyl still excite the senses and bring back great memories of past music favorites, Just remember, unlike with cd’s, when side one is done, you must turn it over to hear side two.