A new year-end analysis of music buying trends from Luminate says that vinyl sales grew for the 17th consecutive year in 2022, outselling CDs for the second year in a row, per Billboard. While the growing number of vinyl record sales might not come as a surprise, some of the other trends included in the report are… interesting.
Though rock music accounted for about 52% of vinyl records sold, the top selling record in 2022 was Taylor Swift‘s Midnights with 945,000 copies sold, making it the best-selling album since Luminate (formerly SoundScan) began tracking sales in 1991. One out of every 25 vinyl records sold was a Taylor Swift album, with Folklore also ranking in the top ten best sellers.
Taylor Swift’s dominance of the market shows that vinyl records have gone from vintage fad to mainstream merchandise. That doesn’t mean T Swift fans are heralding a new golden age of vinyl, however. In fact, they might not even listen to the records they buy, seeing as, according to the report, only half the people who bought records actually own a record player. That goes for all those surveyed, not just Taylor Swift fans.
This trend speaks to the value of vinyl records as collector’s items, physical artwork, and even status symbols for fans, though it is unfortunate in the context of the ongoing vinyl shortage, which has been caused by a combination of limited production capacity and overwhelming demand.
Cassette tapes were also on the rise in 2022, with sales up 28% from 2021. The best selling cassette was Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2.
Click below to view the top ten vinyl records and cassette tapes of 2022, courtesy of Luminate, and click here to view the full report.