Vinyl sales up nearly 15 per cent in 2023

Sales of vinyl have surged by nearly 15 per cent year-on-year for the first nine months of 2023, according to a new report.

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The statistics were collected from the BPI (via MusicWeek) and highlighted that from the beginning of the year until the end of September, 3,952,262 vinyl LPs were sold – approximately a 13.2 per cent increase since 2022.

According to the report, this increase was even bigger for the three months of the Q3 period, which saw 1,237,620 records sold in the vinyl format; a figure which is 15.1 per cent higher than the previous year.

So far, artists majorly responsible for the resurgence of vinyl sales include Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, Blur and Kylie Minogue – all of which have released new LPs since the start of the year.

So far, Lana Del Rey’s ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ remains the biggest vinyl release of the year – with 33,568 copies sold on the format since its release in March. This is followed by Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’, which was the biggest-selling vinyl release of Q3, with 29,649 sales.

In third place is Britpop icons Blur, whose ninth studio album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ has sold 26,894 copies, and Kylie Minogue’s ‘Tension’ isn’t too far behind, with 19,160 copies sold since its release last month.

Other albums paving the way in vinyl sales include Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Guts’, Wham!’s ‘The Singles: Echoes From The Edge Of Heaven’ and Lewis Capaldi‘s ‘Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent’.

What’s more, this figure is expected to rise significantly for the remainder of 2023, with albums from Take That (‘This Life’) and Taylor Swift (‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’) still set for release. Another artist set to make a huge mark on the figures this year is rock icons The Rolling Stones, who will be sharing ‘Hackney Diamonds’ – their first new album of original music in 18 years on October 20.

The number is also set to be inflated with Black Friday – Record Store Day’s sister event – on the horizon (November 24). This will see limited edition vinyl editions released for over 90 artists, including Joni Mitchell, Prince, The Doors and Post Malone.

As reported by MusicWeek, CD sales for 2023 have dropped by 6.3 per cent year-on-year, and physical sales as a whole are down by 0.5 per cent. Unsurprisingly, streaming continues to be the main way music is being consumed, making up 88.5 per cent of the market.

In other vinyl news, back in August it was reported that Scotland’s first-ever vinyl-pressing plant was under construction – set to open later this year.

Named Seabass Vinyl, is the family-run business of David and Dominique Harvey, and is set to open its doors in East Lothian, just outside Edinburgh, later this month.

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