Vinyl Sales Overtook Digital Downloads Last Week

According to a report shared via The Vinyl Factory, the Entertainment Research Association (ERA) have released data showing that last week in the UK, for the first time, more money was spent on vinyl than on digital downloads.

Last week, vinyl album sales in the UK hit £2.4 million while only £2.1 million was spent on digital album downloads. This news comes as a further proof for the growing popularity of vinyl while digital downloads continue to lose out against streaming services. These figures contrast with those from the same week last year, in which vinyl sales hit £1.2 million, while digital downloads were at £4.4 million.

The ERA also suggested that the growing popularity as vinyl as a Christmas gift, Black Friday sales in record stores, and the increased stocking of vinyl albums in big supermarkets has contributed to the change.

Interestingly, this new data comes during the same week in which it was announced that, according to research from the Audio Engineering Library, low-quality digital audio formats such as mp3s could drain music of its emotional quality. In a report shared by What Hi-Fi, compressed audio formats can “have a distinct effect on the timbral and emotional characteristics of the instruments involved”.

So maybe vinyl does just make you feel good?