The vinyl craze is finally slowing down, according to BuzzAngle’s yearly report on music consumption. The report tracks music data per year, similar to the RIAA’s annual release. While vinyl sales were still on, the past year shows a much smaller growth compared to the previous year’s 20 percent. However, vinyl albums were a driver of 13.7 percent of all physical album sales.
This is part of an odd trend that opposes the overall falling popularity of physical albums. Their growth in sales equals 11.9 percent. Looking closer, some other strange things are at work; there’s more diversity among vinyl purchases now. Less than half of vinyl albums sold are rock albums, 26 percent were pop albums, and the number one vinyl album sold was the Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol.1.
One thing to notice is that the upward trend for vinyl albums doesn’t extend to EDM. Coming in second is Thriller by Michael Jackson, followed by The Beatles’ Abbey Road and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.
The rest of the chart doesn’t see a contemporary album until Love Is Here to Stay by Tony Bennett and Diana Krall. Khalid’s American Teen narrowly misses the top ten as an eleventh most sold vinyl album.
As the world turns to stream, it’s easy to see where some genres perform better than others. It’s perhaps unsurprising that older albums or styles are in higher demand for a nostalgic format.
At least we can feel comfortable seeing EDM’s recognized as deserving of its own categories. Lauv’s I met you when I was 18. (the playlist) beat The Chainsmokers for top EDM album, and Marshmello & Bastille’s Happier was crowned number 1 EDM song.
Would you listen to EDM on vinyl? Which album would you choose? Let us know on Twitter and Facebook!
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