Vinyl in the 2020s: Back on Top Among Physical Formats

Vinyl is now the leading physical format, well ahead of CD. Vinyl revenue overtook CD revenue as early as 2020, and unit sales followed in 2022, a first since 1987. In 2025, the format logged its nineteenth consecutive year of growth, with 46.8 million units sold in the US against 29.5 million for CD, and revenue crossing back above $1 billion for the first time since 1983. Two forces shape the decade. First, industrial strain: Adele's 30 in 2021 came to symbolize pressing-plant gridlock, with six-to-twelve-month wait times for small labels. Second, collecting pushed to its extreme by colour variants: Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl, released in eight different versions, sold 1.6 million units in 2025. The flip side is price: the average price of a new vinyl record rose roughly 24% between 2020 and 2025, to around $37, with a standard new release now running $25 to $40, versus $40 to $60 for a deluxe edition.