MAGAZINE
As vinyl albums are usually much more expensive than CDs, there has always been a big gap between sales and revenue for physical media, with vinyl already outselling CD in terms of revenue by 2020. Now, however, vinyl has overtaken the CD in terms of unit sales in the U.S – for the first time since 1987: 41 million LPs were sold last year, compared to only 33 million CDs, according to the year end report of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Sales of vinyl records increased by 17% compared to the previous year and now account for 71% of total sales of physical music media.
Still, the lion's share in the music industry comes from streaming: more than $13 billion – 84% of the total revenue. Paid subscription plans in particular have grown significantly, from 84 million subscribers in 2021 to 92 million in 2022, not even counting cheaper limited subscriptions; and with family plans only counting as a single subscription. Overall, the U.S. music industry revenue grew by 6% to nearly $16 billion in 2022.
