- This is the 16th consecutive year in the UK that vinyl sales have risen
Vinyl sales are at their highest annual level since the start of the 90’s, industry analysis suggests, driven by artists like Taylor Swift and The Rolling Stones.
Some 5.9million units of vinyl were sold this year and sales are growing at their fastest rate so far this decade, according to an analysis by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
The trade body of the recorded music industry said sales of vinyl recordings increased by 11.7 per cent in the first 51 weeks of 2023. This was about four times more than the 2.9 per cent increase in sales the previous year.
This is the 16th consecutive year in the UK that vinyl sales have risen. At its low point in 2007 barely 200,000 LPs were sold.
Using data from the Official Charts Company, the BPI revealed that Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was the top selling vinyl album in 2023.
She was followed by the Stones’s new release Hackney Diamonds, with Lana Del Rey’s album Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd in third.
Swift was also in fourth spot with Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), with Fleetwood Mac’s classic Rumours next in the list.
Blur’s first new album in eight years, The Ballad of Darren, was in sixth slot, followed by Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, Swift’s Midnights, Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts and Lewis Capaldi’s Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent.
CDs also registered their lowest decline in nearly a decade with nearly 11million of them sold across the year.
Added to this sales of cassettes topped 100,000 units for the fourth year running.
But more than four fifths of recorded music consumption is still made up of streaming.
The top selling CD in 2023 was Take That’s album This Life, followed by Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) followed by The Rolling Stones and Capaldi albums as well as Ed Sheeran’s most recent album.
The best-selling cassette was Rodrigo’s Guts, followed by Sheeran’s album and Kylie Minogue’s Tension.
Seven of the top ten biggest vinyl sellers were new releases and 40 per cent of the top 100 most purchased vinyl LPs of 2023 were put out in the past two years.
Rumours is set to be among the top-ten selling vinyl albums for the eighth consecutive time. Other big sellers included Oasis’ The Masterplan and Wham’s The Singles – Echoes from the Edge of Heaven.
Dr Jo Twist OBE, BPI Chief Executive, said: ‘Led by vinyl, the resurgence of physical product underlines the resilience of the UK music market at a time when streaming consumption continues to hit record levels.
‘Whilst LP sales have now been on an upward path for the past 16 years, it is encouraging to see a stabilisation in demand for CD, as well as new generations of music fans falling in love with the cassette.
‘It is giving people more choice than ever in how they enjoy their favourite music.’
