It really is no secret that vinyl records have seen a resurgence in the last few years. In February of this year, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported that vinyl sales were now generating one third of the revenue from physical releases. Sales of CD's has stagnated. The last time vinyl records outsold CD’s was in 1986.
Well, it appears that vinyl will very soon be outselling CD’s once again. RIAA’s 2019 mid-year report had vinyl sales at $224 million versus CD sales at $248 million. Vinyl sales increased by 12.8% the second half of 2018, and grew by 12.9% the first half of 2019. CD sales barely grew during that exact same time period.
As such, if the trend holds, and there is no reason to expect it won’t, vinyl will soon surpass CD sales in 2019. It’s amazing to think that a medium once thought to be long gone will soon exceed the medium that replaced it!