UK vinyl sales set to overtake CDs in 2022

nme.com:

Music Week reports that while BPI’s 2021 unit sales data showed that CDs remained ahead of vinyl, the latter is poised to become the dominant physical format in terms of revenue.Vinyl albums brought in £135.6million in 2021 (up 23.2 per cent year-on-year) compared to £150.1million in CD sales (down 3.9 per cent year-on-year).

On this current growth trajectory, vinyl will be ahead by the end of this year.In terms of unit sales, 14.4million CDs were sold in the UK last year (down 10.5 per cent year-on-year) compared to 5.3million vinyl LPs (up 10.6 per cent).Sony Music UK VP of market planning and sales Charles Wood told Music Week that he believes vinyl will become the largest physical contributor to labels in terms of revenue during the next 12 months.“Following an uplift of interest in vinyl sales during Covid, we saw that vinyl was being purchased by a broader audience, beyond your music fanatics and niche format obsessives that drove the ‘vinyl revival’,” Wood said.“We saw continued growth for vinyl sales in 2021 – now making up 27 per cent of the physical market in terms of volume.

When you take into consideration a significantly higher price point for vinyl, we will soon see vinyl become the largest physical format in the market in terms of revenue.”The CD format, however, looks to have a promising future, as NME columnist Mark Beaumont celebrated recently.

The unit sales year-on-year decline of 10.5 per cent was not as steep as in previous years, while revenue was down 3.9 per cent due to sales from premium value box sets.The news follows the revelation that vinyl sales in 2021 were at their highest level for 30 years despite supply issues over the course of the COVID pandemic.