Record Roundup 38: Vinyl Sales Up Again, But Outpaced By CDs. The UK recorded-music market topped £1.5 billion in 2025, with vinyl sales up around 18% on the year. In Record Roundup 38, CD and Vinyl sales are up again (with CDs staging a surprise surge), plus new turntables from Crosley, Flaunce and Andover Audio. The useful question is whether this reveals something about label behaviour, catalog strategy, or platform power.
Who controls the rights, where the release lands first, what the distribution choice says. 2025 was vinyl’s 19th consecutive year of growth in the US, and vinyl has outsold CDs on units since 2022. The average Discogs collection is 195 records, already 50–60 kg, more than most flat-pack shelves are built to carry. The RIAA’s 2025 year-end report put total US recorded-music revenue at a record $11.5 billion.
Within that, vinyl passed $1 billion in revenue for the first time on around 47 million units, roughly half of all vinyl revenue worldwide comes from the US alone. Growth is not just American.
Less empty release chatter, more attention on distribution, streaming leverage, and catalog value. The UK recorded-music market surpassed £1.5 billion in 2025 (BPI), with vinyl sales rising roughly 18% on the year (ERA), well over a decade of continuous growth. In France vinyl has overtaken the CD, and in Spain vinyl now makes up the majority of physical music sales.
The demographic behind the boom is younger than the format suggests, and increasingly treats records as objects to display, not just play. A significant share of buyers own records they cannot yet play, vinyl has become an identity and a decor choice, which is why display and storage matter. Every record bought
If a format or rollout model works, the scene copies it fast. If not, it vanishes. In Record Roundup 38, CD and Vinyl sales are up again (with CDs staging a surprise surge), plus new turntables from Crosley, Flaunce and Andover Audio.
Vinyl sales grew nearly 10% in 2025 to reach $1 billion in sales for the first time this century, according to a new industry report. Vinyl Records market is estimated to reach $3542.6 million in 2025 with a CAGR of 9.9% from 2026 to 2033.
What happens next depends on what the underlying dynamics actually support. The next few months should tell us a lot.
Vinyl Records Market Size 2025-2029 The vinyl records market size is forecast to increase by USD 857.2 million, at a CAGR of 9.3% between 2024 and 2029.Read more Vinyl album sales are expected to reach 20-25 million units by 2025, a 45-50% increase from 2020. 2.
Wider Mainstream Acceptance: Vinyl will become more…Read more By 2024, vinyl music sales of $1.4 billion on 43.6 million units easily outpaced sales of CDs at $541 million on 33 million units. 4.
What is…Read more The global vinyl record market size was valued at USD 2.1 Billion in 2025, and it is expected to reach USD 3.6 Billion by 2034, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR)…Read more The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.3% during the forecast period.
Aesthetic appeal of vinyl records is driving market growth, with a…Read more The vinyl resurgence reached a new milestone in 2025 as the format reached $1 billion in U.S. revenue, according to the RIAA’s year-end…
Vinyl records accounted for more than $1 billion in U.S. sales last year, rising more than 9%, according to the Recording Industry Assn. of America. The Cambridge, Mass.-based AI company has announced Suno Vinyl, a service that will press users’ generated AI tracks onto vinyl records. It has not gone live.
The company has started a waiting list, with the first pressing reserved for users who sign up. A Suno spokesperson said the company is exploring ways for people to turn their music into physical artifacts.
Users will be able to build a tracklist of up to 46 minutes from their Suno library, then either upload their own album artwork or generate it on the platform for the sleeve, labels and cover. Each record will be a 12-inch pressing made from PETG, a type of plastic. Pricing is estimated about $45 plus shipping.
Track the follow-through: catalog movement, platform placement, and what other labels copy next. For more coverage, visit hitboardmusic.com.