For many people, the vinyl record might seem like an outdated blast from the past.
But new data shows that vinyls are fast becoming one of the most popular forms of music.
Gross income from vinyl is now set to overtake CDs for the first time since they fell out of favour in the 1980s.
A report published by Spotifiy’s former economist, Will Page, found that records will bring in more than $1bn (£787m) for labels in the US alone by the end of 2024.
Mr Page wrote: ‘Globally, vinyl will soon overtake CDs — a real sign of the format times.’
However, it isn’t vinyl’s superior sound quality which is behind this trend, as studies have shown that half of record buyers don’t even own a turntable.
Instead, experts suggest that fans are snapping up vinyl as a form of merchandise which gives them a feeling of connection to the bands they love.
This year, big artists like Taylor Swift, Adelle, and Billy Eilish have all jumped on the trend, releasing multiple, expensive physical variations of the same albums.
Gross revenue from vinyl sales has surpassed CDs for the first time since the 1980s amid a surge of interest in the retro music format (stock image)
Despite numerous drawbacks compared to digital, the popularity of vinyl has only increased in recent years as fans look for a more engaging listening experience
Although vinyl records were deemed all but obsolete after the rise of CDs and digital streaming, the format has seen a stunning resurgence in recent years.
Writing in Billboard Pro, Mr Page says that vinyl sales have ‘surpassed expectations’ for each of the last 18 years.
Last year, record labels’ income grew by 12 per cent, mainly driven by a 10 per cent rise in the value of streaming.
However, the new report shows that vinyl actually grew faster than streaming in percentage terms – up 15.4 per cent on the year before.
For the last two years, this once-outdated format has made up more than a tenth of all record labels’ revenues.
In 2019, industry analysts hailed a vinyl revival when revenues hit $504 million (£397m), the highest figure since 1988.
Now predicted to earn $1bn by the end of the year, the value of the vinyl industry has more than doubled in five years.
As Mr Page points out, this comes despite significant ‘bottlenecks’ in the supply of physical records.
Records might be seen as outdated but their sales have surpassed expectations each of the last 18 years. A new study estimates that they will bring in $1bn (£787m) for record labels in the US alone this year (stock image)
As the popularity of vinyl has exploded, factories are only just beginning to catch up with rampant demand.
In previous years, this has left some labels and artists facing months of delays in bringing their albums to press.
However, that has not stopped big artists from jumping on the vinyl bandwagon.
Last year, Taylor Swift topped the charts as the biggest artist on vinyl, selling 3.4 million records in the US – representing seven per cent of all sales.
As part of her winning strategy, Swift releases multiple variants of the same album which die-hard fans scramble to collect.
As of this year, Swift has released 36 variants of her album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, seven of which were on vinyl.
Meanwhile, Billy Eilish released eight vinyl colour variations of her album Hit Me Hard and Soft which released this year.
Likewise, this month Adele was slammed by fans for releasing a $349 (£275) limited edition vinyl box set.
The vinyl revival has been driven by superstars like Taylor Swift who released 36 variations of her album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ (pictured), including seven vinyl records
However, despite the often extortionate prices, fans have been more than happy to splash out on something that gives them a sense of connection to their favourite artist.
While simply tapping an album on Spotify might be convenient, the huge boom in sales for physical formats suggests that fans are looking for more.
That is fantastic news for artists and record labels who stand to make significantly more profit from record sales than they do from digital streaming.
Mr Page estimates that for a label to make the same money from a digital album as a vinyl record, a customer would need to stream the album for almost two straight weeks without sleep.
Yet the report also reveals some other big trends in the world of music.
For the last decade, Mr Page has been tracking the value of music copyrights and performing rights.
These are the legal permissions which let artists and record labels earn money when a song is played on the radio or streamed online.
This year’s report reveals that the value of music hit an all-time high in 2023 reaching $45.5bn (£35.7bn), up from $25bn (£19.7bn) in 2014.
This year, economist Will Page found that the value of music copyright and performance rights exceeded the value of the cinema. Music was worth $45.5bn (£35.7bn) in 2023 (right), compared to just £31.6bn (£24.9bn) in 2019
By next year, Mr Page predicts that the value of music copyrights will have doubled within a decade.
This means that music is now a bigger business than cinema which is valued at just $33.2 billion.
While cinema revenues have bounced back since the pandemic, box office sales peaked in 2019 and have not kept up with the meteoric rise in music.
Mr Page says: ‘If you had suggested when I first did this exercise in 2015 that music might overtake cinema, you would have been laughed out of the room.
‘Back then, the silver screen towered over the likes of Spotify and Netflix.’