Over the past few years, sales of vinyl records have hit an all time high, with 2023 being the biggest year for the format in this century. This might come as a surprise to many people, as the record had been predicted to die out slowly with the increased popularity of CDs in the 90s and then stream services in the early 2000s. However, it seems that ever since 2007, sales of physical records have been increasing gradually!

Perhaps this could be a cause of a need for physical music again in an oversaturated and overwhelming digital age. The internet has become so jam-packed with content of every kind, which could have possibly been the catalyst in this resurgence due to people seeking the experience of listening to music in real life.

Another cause of this could perhaps be the marketing and huge fanbases of major artists. Those musicians who create various versions of their album, adding different secret songs onto each version, and creating collectables out of their records cater to their fans wants. Examples of this in recent years can be seen in artists like Olivia Rodrigo with ‘GUTS’ and Taylor Swift’s ‘(Taylor’s version)’ albums. Many record shops internationally merit Taylor Swift herself as the main drive in record sales in the last few years, with her album ‘Midnights’ reportedly being the first major release to have vinyl outsell the CD counterpart since the late 1980s!

This renewed popularity of records has therefore also led to the increased interest in Record shops themselves. This can be seen most clearly with the creation of ‘Record Store Day’, which was invented to celebrate independent record stores globally, and is held on the 3rd Saturday of April every year!

The revival of the vinyl record is an interesting look into the attempt of every generation to slow down the world that seems to be moving faster every day, and possibly also fed by the phenomenon of mega stars known globally.