American consumers bought 41.3 million vinyl records in 2022, compared to 33.4 million compact discs, which means that annual vinyl sales exceeded CD sales in the US last year for the first time since 1987, MBW reports. The difference in revenue is even bigger - income from vinyl jumped 17.2% year over year to $1.2 billion in 2022, while revenues from CDs fell 17.6%, to $483 million. Music sales data company Luminate also found that 50% of consumers who have bought vinyl in the past 12 months in the US own a record player, which of course means that 50% of vinyl buyers - don’t own a record player.

Cassette sales in the UK grew by 5.2% in 2022, reaching their highest level since 2003, following 10 consecutive years of growth, Forbes reports. All in all, 195,000 audio cassettes were sold last year in the UK, compared to 3,823 sold in 2012. All 20 of the U.K's biggest-selling cassettes in 2022 were released that year, with the most popular cassettes sold being The Arctic Monkeys' ‘The Car’ and ‘Harry’s House' by Harry Styles. Similarly, in the U.S. 2022 sales of albums on cassette tape jumped by 28% to 440,000 - up from 343,000 in 2021,

Streams of DMX’s catalog of songs increased 928% in the United States in the days following his death - his tracks garnered 75.7 million on-demand streams (audio and video combined) on April 9 and 10, a nine-fold increase compared to the 7.36 million they earned on April 7 and 8. In terms of music sales, DMX’s collected songs and albums sold 101,000 copies on April 9-11 – up 1,036% compared to the 9,000 they sold on April 6-8.

Queen have officially moved 10 million units in streaming and track sales of their anthem 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in the US, making them the first UK band to be RIAA-certified diamond, Blabbermouth reports. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' also recently became the most-streamed song from the 20th century, surpassing a collective 1.6 billion streams globally across all major streaming services.

Music streaming increased 13.4% in 2020 in the US compared to 2019, generating $10.1 billion last year compared to $8.9 billion in 2019, according to RIAA. Music streaming is accounting for 83% of the total revenue of the industry now. Vinyl sales have increased a whopping 29.2% to $619.6 million, compared to $479.5 million in 2019. Streaming has driven the industry to grow for the fifth consecutive year, with revenues increasing 9.2% in 2020, generating $12.2 billion in total.

Discogs has seen a big growth in sales last year, their year-end report shows: the marketplace is up 35.78% to 8,845,534 orders over the prior year and in total 16,290,197 pieces of physical music were sold around the world, bringing an overall 40.12% increase year-over-year. The most popular physical music format sold in 2020 was vinyl - 11,961,998 records were sold, up 40.75% from 2019. CDs have also increased 37.18% year-over-year with 3,441,769 compact discs purchased. Interest in cassettes hasn’t died down, with a total of 282,798 sold through the Marketplace, a 33.33% increase over 2019.

After country star Morgan Wallen was caught on camera using a racial slur, his music was pulled from hundreds of radio stations in the US, his radio play fell 70% and his record contract was suspended. On the other hand, however, sales of his music skyrocketed by 339%, according to Billboard. The day before the story about his use of the n-word broke, he sold 5,000 total units, about 1,000 of which were copies of his recent release 'Dangerous: The Double Album'. As the backlash grew, on the first day of the scandal, he sold 7,000 albums and 22,500 total units, an increase of 339% compared to sales the day before. Breaking down album vs. song sales, Wallen's albums sold a little over 8,000 copies Feb. 3, up 593% from 1,000 on Feb. 2, while his songs sold 14,000 downloads Feb. 3, up 261% from 4,000 on Feb. 2.

MF Doom's various projects had 25 million on-demand streams after the news of his death on December 31 was released, and in the previous week his music had pulled in 2.6 million streams, making for an 870 percent increase, Billboard reports. Also, in that week, 5,000 MF Doom songs had been purchased for download, which was a 2,879 percent increase from the sales in the days prior. There is also news about the new Madvillainy, Doom's collaborative album with Madlib, as there are 11 finished songs from it.

The British listened to 139bn audio streams last year, up from 114bn in 2019, with streaming accounting for more than 80% of overall music consumption in the UK in 2020, Guardian reports. The top 10 streaming artists in 2020 each achieved more than half a billion streams in the UK, while 8,000 different acts totaled 1m streams annually. Lewis Capaldi's 'Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent' was the most-streamed album for a second successive year in the UK, while The Weeknd’s 'Blinding Lights' was the most-streamed single. CD sales slumped a further 31% to 16m units in the UK, while sales of vinyl records increased for the 13th consecutive year, by 11.5% to 4.8m copies purchased.

The iconic music store chain Tower Records that closed its doors nearly 14 years ago, has returned as an online service last Friday. The new Tower Records has plenty of music on sale already, including vinyl, cassettes, and CDs. They also have a merchandise section, online events, and a digitized version of their original Tower Pulse! magazine. Tower Records was founded in Sacramento, California in 1960, and it quickly grew in popularity for its enormous catalog, in-the-know staff, and famous clientele. In 2006 they were forced to file for bankruptcy and liquidation due to dwindling sales.

Van Halen saw an uptick of over 6,000 percent in album and song sales in the US in the day after Eddie Van Halen's death, Billboard reports. The total rise came from 40,000 copies of collected Van Halen albums and songs sold on Oct. 6, compared to just under 1,000 on the day before. Going by just album sales, Van Halen's catalog reportedly sold 9,000 copies on Oct. 6, an increase of 5,835 percent when compared to a negligible amount from Oct. 5. As far as songs, the group sold 31,000 single tracks on Oct. 6, with the most popular song, 'Jump', going in 3,000 copies.

Americans purchased $232 million USD worth of vinyl records in the first half of this year, out of a total of $376 million in physical music sales, Pitchfork reports. This marks the first time since the 1980s that CDs were outsold. Streaming revenue brought in $421 million USD in the first six months of 2020.

The U.S. recorded music business generated $11.1 billion in revenue in 2019, a 13% year-over-year increase from the $9.8 billion it reached in 2018, and the fourth straight year of double-digit growth for the sector. Streaming revenue grew 19.9% year-over-year to $8.8 billion from 2018's $7.4 billion, accounting for 79.5% of all revenue. On the other side, digital download sales revenue dipped below the $1 billion mark, falling 18% year-over-year to $856 million, CD sales fell 12% to $615 million in 2019, but vinyl rose a whopping 19% year-over-year to $504 million, the format's highest revenues in 32 years and its 14th straight year of growth.

This week, Sunrise Records announced that it was buying FYE, America’s last remaining nationwide record and entertainment retail chain from Trans World. FYE currently has 206 stores in America, Sunrise owns 114 HMV record stores in the UK and 85 namesake Sunrise stores in Canada, bringing the total record store owned to 405. Between 2000 and 2010 nearly 4000 US record stores closed, leaving an estimated 1400, with most operating independently or in chains of less than 10 stores.

US music fans streamed more than 1 trillion songs on demand for the first time in 2019, that's around 3 billion streams a day, or, roughly, nine streams per day per person. On-demand stream consumption now represents 85% of all music consumption in the United States

A new branch of HMV opened in Birmingham today (October 11), the biggest entertainment store in Europe - it's almost the size of 12 tennis courts. HMV almost went bankrupt, when Sunrise Records owner Doug Putman bought the company, keeping over 100 stores open, though 27 ended up closing. The new Birmingham store, to be […]

34 percent of music listeners between 16 and 24 years old use stream ripping apps or services to listen to music illegally, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry says in its annual report. The report also noted that 38 percent of the younger demographic had used illegal means of listening in the last month, […]

Global music sales grew 9.7% in 2018, reaching $19.1 billion in total revenue, making the 2018 fourth consecutive year of growth and the highest rate since the IFPI began tracking the market in 1997. Nearly half (47%) of all revenue came from streaming, which grew by 34% in 2018. By the end of last year, […]

British artists, blockbuster film soundtracks, vibrant streaming growth & resilient demand for physical formats combine to fuel a near 6% rise in music consumption in 2018 – the fourth year of growth in a row. A total of 142.9 million albums or their equivalent were either streamed, purchased on physical format, and/or downloaded over the […]