Now that our 2015 sales numbers are out, there is one category that continues to befuddle even the most astute industry observers: vinyl (in a good way, of course). So if you’re one of these observers or a casual music fan doing some research on this waxy format (or both), we thought we’d offer up a few of our own observations about vinyl to help inform the numbers.

First off, to be sure, vinyl remains a niche, but it’s not insignificant. It continues to be a major bright spot for the industry.  Revenues from vinyl albums were $416 million in 2015 – the last year they were that high was 1988! Think tube socks, Nintendo game systems, ‘Coming to America’, George Michael, Tiffany, and so many other priceless gems.

vinyl 1

Another interesting factoid? For the second year in a row, vinyl revenues are higher than the revenues the industry receives from the billions of streams on ad-supported, on-demand services like YouTube, free Spotify, and others.

@Curionic

#staycurious

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