That hasn’t happened since the mid-1980s: the record has replaced the CD in the USA. But both are only overshadowed by the streaming services.
In the USA, the world’s largest music market, more records than CDs were sold last year for the first time since 1987. The compact disc, which once dominated the music business, has been pushed back by downloads and now streaming for years. The vinyl record meanwhile secured a niche in the hi-fi business and is growing.
In the USA, vinyl sales rose by 3.2 percent to 41.3 million records in 2022, as the industry association RIAA announced on Thursday (local time) in its annual report. In the case of CDs, on the other hand, there was a slump of a good 28 percent to 33.4 million silver discs. In terms of sales, records overtook CDs some time ago.
Meanwhile, the situation in Germany is different: According to figures from the Federal Association of the Music Industry, 4.3 million vinyl LPs sold 19.4 million CDs in Germany last year.
The number of streaming subscriptions in the US rose by 9.6 percent to 92 million. Together with advertising revenue from free versions of the services, streaming brought in sales of a good 13.26 billion dollars. The US music market as a whole grew by 6.1 percent to $15.87 billion. (dpa)