After the invention of the CD, it seemed like vinyl stores would eventually join dusty used bookshops among the hallmarks of an older era.
Then in the mid-2000s, college students started ordering record players for their dorm rooms, and the modern phonograph became a staple for the millennial Brooklynite. More than 70% of vinyl buyers are 35 years old or younger. As it turns out, vinyl might not be obsolete after all.
Vinyl sales could soon surpass CD sales for the first time since 1986, according to projections from the Recording Industry Association of America. Over the past few years, sales of old-school records have been going up, while CD sales have plummeted. In just the first half of 2019, vinyl sales have raked in $224.1 million to CDs’ $247.9 million. “Play that CD” just doesn’t have the same ring to it as “Put Your Records On,” which is probably why only the latter is a Grammy-nominated song.
Best-selling vinyl albums on Amazon include the Beatles’ Abbey Road, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, and Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? The albums came out in 1969, 1973, and 2019, respectively, proving that when listeners go old school, they’re not always looking for old tunes. They’re just looking for quality.
“Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music,” explained musician Neil Young in 2012. “But when he went home, he listened to vinyl.” Journalist Walt Mossberg confirmed Young’s statement about Jobs, saying that the Apple founder was surprised that “people traded quality, to the extent they had, for convenience or price.”
Technology is meant to smooth out the wrinkles in our lives, letting us spend more time either working or relaxing as we enjoy the time-saving efforts of our devices. But sometimes, as with the younger generation’s renewed interest in going to the movie theater, putting in the extra effort is worth it.
Perhaps, too, listeners are looking for music with a little more character. “Somebody was trying to tell me that CDs are better than vinyl because they don’t have any surface noise,” BBC Radio DJ John Peel is said to have mused. “I said, ‘Listen, mate, life has surface noise.'”
