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No, vinyl is not outselling CDs in Germany or the UK (or the USA…yet)

  • In the wake of our coverage of CD vs. vinyl sales in the UK in 2022 where the former still outsells the latter 2 to 1, I went looking for more data. The most up-to-date figures from Germany’s music industry body, the BVMI, show that 25.1 million CDs were sold in Germany in 2021 but only 4.5 million vinyl LPs. That’s 5 to 1 in favour of the shiny silver disc.

    In the USA, the RIAA’s EoY report for 2021 reveals a much closer call between these two physical formats: 39.7 million vinyl LPs vs. 46.6 million CDs. However, it could be closer still by year’s end with the RIAA’s report for the first half of 2022 showing vinyl pipping CDs to the post – 21.8 million vs 17.7 million units shifted. It will be interesting to see where those EoY sales figures land once Black Friday and Christmas have been factored in.

    🎥 Camera: John Darko
    🎬 Editor: John Darko
    🕺🏻 Motion GFX: John Darko
    💰 Ad segment: Jana Dagdagan

    👉🏻 As mentioned in this video…

    Taylor Swift propels UK vinyl sales past CDs for first time in 35 years
    📖 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/27/taylor-swift-propels-uk-vinyl-sales-past-cds-for-first-time-in-35-years

    Vinyl outsells CD for first time in 35 years as total music sales reach £2 billion
    📖 https://www.musicweek.com/labels/read/vinyl-outsells-cd-for-first-time-in-35-years-as-total-music-sales-reach-2-billion/087211

    Vinyl outsells CDs in the UK for first time in 35 years
    📖 https://djmag.com/news/vinyl-outsells-cds-uk-first-time-35-years

    Vinyl outsells CD for first time in 35 years
    📖 https://www.nme.com/news/music/vinyl-outsells-cd-first-time-35-years-3378006

    ERA 2022 press release
    📖 https://eraltd.org/news-events/press-releases/2023/top-gun-maverick-harry-styles-and-fifa-23-drive-uk-entertainment-sales-to-record-111bn/

    BPI 2022 CD and vinyl sales figures
    📖 https://www.bpi.co.uk/news-analysis/british-artists-in-a-historic-clean-sweep-of-2022-s-official-top-10-singles/

    BVMI 2021 report
    📖https://www.musikindustrie.de/fileadmin/bvmi/upload/06_Publikationen/MiZ_Jahrbuch/2021/Musikindustrie_in_Zahlen_2021_E-Paper.pdf

    RIAA EoY 2021 report
    📖 https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2021-Year-End-Music-Industry-Revenue-Report.pdf

    Written by John

    John currently lives in Berlin where he creates videos and podcasts for Darko.Audio. He has previously contributed to 6moons, TONEAudio, AudioStream and Stereophile.

    Darko.Audio is a member of EISA.

    Follow John on YouTube or Instagram

    How I got into electronic music (Part 2)