The insane upswing of vinyl sales are nothing new, but in the UK things have taken a turn for the historic. In the 48th week of 2016, the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) reports that £2.4 million was spent on vinyl records, while £2.1 million was spent on digital downloads. For all us American readers, that equates to about $3.03 million spent on vinyl and $2.65 million spent on digital downloads.
According to NME, in the 48th week of 2015, only £1.2 million ($1.51 million) was spent on vinyl and £4.4 million ($5.55 million) was spent on digital downloads. So that's a pretty serious swing in public opinion when it comes to the consumption of music!
It's also worth noting that the ERA says the reason vinyl is doing so well this year could be due to Record Store Day Black Friday, vinyl as a popular Christmas gift, and the increasing number of retailers stocking vinyl.
