Vinyl sales in the US surpass 19 million for first six months of 2022

A new report reveals that vinyl sales exceeded 19.4 million for the first six months of 2022.

According to a research by Luminate , that amount represents slightly over half, or 53%, of all physical music sales (36.5 million) in the US during the first six months of 2022.

This figure is somewhat higher than the 19.2 million sales from the same consumers in 2021, which was a 108% rise in vinyl sales from the same time in 2020 and a 30-year high for vinyl sales.

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Sales in the first half of this year were largely owed to recent releases rather than older titles from the catalogue. Harry Styles sold 183,000 copies of his third studio album, 'Harry's House', during its first week of release in May, shattering the previous record for first-week physical album sales in recent years.

The Luminate report also highlights that Tyler, The Creator's 'CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST' album being sold on vinyl also contributed greatly to this number.

The vinyl issue of this album sold 50,000 copies - 10 months after the digital release of the album - leading to Tyler breaking the record for most vinyl sales in a week for a rap album since Luminate began tracking sales statistics in 1991.

Luminate's report shows that current album's vinyl sales (such as Harry Styles' album) are up by 27.4% since last year, however catalogue vinyl album sales are down 8.4% from this time last year.

Independent stores and online retailers still dominate the market, accounting for 52% and 31%, respectively, of all vinyl sales.

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However, it also found that because places like Target and Walmart are aggressively stocking and marketing vinyl products, especially with their own exclusive variants, it is contributing to the rise in vinyl sales. This serves as another illustration of how vinyl's worth is rising in the context of consumer culture.

According to data from the Recording Industry Association of America, 2021 revenues increased 61% from 2020 to $1 billion. The last time this was seen was in 1986.

In October, Mixmag published a deep-dive investigation into the rise and fall of vinyl. It ultimately finds and argues that the vinyl industry in its current state is unsustainable and that there is a scarcity of resources and a growing amount of labels who are ditching vinyl releases altogether. Read it here.

You can read Luminate's full report breaking down the stats of music sales and music business in the USA here.

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Aneesa Ahmed is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter