Don't Call It A Comeback; Red-Hot Vinyl Market Proves Medium Is Here To Stay

Don't toss those turntables yet Super Throwback fans! One thing we know is our readers love music and real music aficionados have always had a place in their hearts for vinyl — whether it's

 for the so called "warm sound" of pressed records or the fact that it is the only lossless recording medium.

We can't count the hours spent arguing which medium is superior since CDs and finally digital recordings took over the majority of the market. The correct answer of course is vinyl, and 2021 is giving us a little hope that the much-maligned grandfather of the music market isn't on its last legs.

Analytics firm MRC Data, which specializes in collecting data from the entertainment and music industries, recently reported that in the first six months of 2021, 19.2 million vinyl albums were sold compared to sales of just 18.9 million for CDs. It continues a trend that began during 2020 when revenue from vinyl sales eclipsed that of CDs for the first time in 34 years. Overall vinyl sales were up 9.2 million over the same period in 2020, led by Taylor Swift's "Evermore," which moved 100,000 units to set a record for most vinyl copies ever sold in a week during its December 2020 release.

Other artists profiting from the vinyl renaissance include Harry Styles ("Fine Line"), Kendrick Lamar ("Good Kid M.A.A.D. City") and Billy Eilish ("When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?"), whose efforts join Swift's at the top of the vinyl charts at the midyear point.