Vinyl is now king

I've written here in the past about the surprising comeback of the vinyl medium,but that facts are that far from being a short lived trend driven by hipster culture it seems that the writing is on the wall - this ancient physical form of music delivery is trouncing digital sales. This is happening right across the board and not only with brand new vinyl  but the secondhand market is also booming.


 In 2017 the British Heart Foundation reported that sales of secondhand vinyl record topped sales of half a million pounds.

Earlier this year Anthem Publishing released a monthly magazine devoted to the format - I Love Vinyl is available on the high street, sold alongside the regular music magazines which is further proof, if any was needed, that vinyl is now mainstream. There is even an official vinyl chart compiled by the Charts Company - at the time of writing Nick Deep, the Welsh band from Wrexham, are at No 1 with their album The Peace and the Panic. And whilst there are a lot of reissues in the top 40 there is a healthy chunk of newer stuff too, in fact the first reissue doesn't appear in the charts until no 7,  so vinyl is not only being bought by aging hacks such as myself.  It may have been the older demographic that initially sparked the vinyl revival but this no longer the case, and younger music lovers are falling for the allure of vinyl records.

 According to a new ICM poll, nearly 50% of vinyl buyers are under the age of 35.  Approximately 16% of people buying vinyl records are aged 18-24 and 33% are aged 25-34.

Personally I think it's great - I'm too long in the tooth for all this digital streaming - I come from a generation where there was only two ways to own music and that was on vinyl and cassette - christ, I was in my late teens when CD's first came out.

Long live vinyl.