Taylor Swift brings vinyl record sales to new heights

Pop queen Taylor Swift’s global appeal has led to a resurgence in sales of vinyl records — especially in the United Kingdom, where hot wax flew off shelves at the highest level since 1990.

The US has also seen the demand for vinyl spike as a new generation of music junkies ditch high-tech streaming services for a more retro listening format.

Revenue from vinyl records grew 1% to $632 million and accounted for 72% of physical format revenues, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Across the pond, vinyl sales surged 11.7% this year, to 5.9 million units, according to CNN, citing figures released Thursday by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), an association of UK record companies and labels.

The figure marks a four-fold increase in sales from 2022, and the 16th consecutive year of increased vinyl sales, CNN reported, as a new generation of music junkies ditch high-tech streaming services for a more retro listening format.

Last week alone, consumers bought more than 250,000 vinyl albums, marking the biggest week of vinyl sales this century, per data from Official Charts, which tracks UK music sales and streams.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Swift’s “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” album sold the most copies — capping off a blockbuster year for Time magazine’s Person of the Year, whose record-breaking “Eras Tour” earned her billionaire status.

The album, which was originally released in 2014, was re-released as “Taylor’s Version” on Oct. 27 — part of the 34-year-old’s effort to rerecord all of her discography previously owned by Scooter Braun.

Swift’s “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” was the fourth-most popular vinyl of 2023, per CNN.

The No. 2 and No. 3 spots were nabbed by The Rolling Stones’ “Hackney Diamonds” and Lana Del Rey’s “Did You Know Know There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” respectively.

In the US, physical music sales — which includes vinyl records, CDs and cassette tapes — saw a revival in the first half of 2023, though streamers like Spotify and Apple Music maintained their market dominance, accounting for 84% of the total revenues in the same six-month period, CNN reported, citing RIAA’s findings.

For comparison, in the UK, 80% of recorded music is listened to on streaming platforms, according to the BPI.

Paid subscriptions were the “strongest driver” of revenue growth, RIAA said.

Meanwhile, Spotify hiked the price of its premium subscription plans across the United States and United Kingdom in the second half of 2023.

As of July, Spotify’s premium US users pay $1 more for the single, duo, family and student plans, which now start anywhere from $5.99 to $16.99.

Apple Music implemented its latest rate hike at the end of 2022, also lifting its premium monthly rate $1, from $9.99 to $10.99.

This coincided with a $2 raise in its family plan from $14.99 to $16.99.

Despite streamers’ music industry dominance in 2023, it’s been a rocky year for Spotify in particular, whose chief financial officer announced his resignation earlier this month — just three days after it revealed plans to lay off 17% of its workforce in the third round of job cuts this year.