The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) recently announced a record turnover for the music industry in the USA in 2022: 15.9 billion dollars. A result mainly due to streaming services, but also to the good performance of the good old vinyl record.
Record sales, vinyl ahead of audio CD, or audio CD behind vinyl?
Good performance of physical formats, therefore with growth of +4% in their turnover compared to 2021. And for the first time since 1987, vinyl albums (41 million) are selling more than audio CDs (33 million ) in the US, representing 71% of sales from physical formats. Note that this is the sixteenth consecutive year of growth for vinyl, which climbs 17% in 2022 compared to 2021 (see graphs below).
Streaming remains the engine of the industry, representing 84% of total US revenue, including subscription services, free services (with ads), digital radio, social networks, etc (see illustration below).
