Vinyl sales are not down 33% in 2024, despite reports

Widely reported claims that 2024 vinyl sales in the US were down 33% on 2023 were untrue, it has been confirmed.

A recent report from Billboard titled Market Watch erroneously claimed that sales were down from 34.9 million units in 2023 to just 23.3 million in 2024. This was later picked up number of other outlets, before being debunked by vinyl marketplace  Discogs, who confirmed that record sales in the US are actually up 6.2%

According to Discogs, the reason for the error was down to a change in the way Luminate – the  company that supplies information for Billboard’s music consumption report – collates its data. For the past 30 years, Luminate would sample independent stores and extrapolate sales of CDs, vinyl and cassettes to produce data for the whole of the United States. However, as of 29th December 2023, the first day of their reporting calendar, Luminate switched to a model that counts actual sales from independent stores in the whole U.S. market.

Discogs contacted Chris Muratore, director of partnerships at Luminate, who confirmed the figures were incorrect. Billboard has since updated the Market Watch report to reflect the correction.

In Luminate’s mid-year report, the company stated: “While the new modeled methodology more accurately represents the independent retail market, we do not have comparable historical data to provide an accurate year-over-year trend. Therefore, independent retail physical sales are not included in our H1 2024 vs. H1 2023 U.S. physical sales reporting.”

“Independent record stores remain the backbone of vinyl culture. We want to set the record straight: Vinyl is still in demand, indie stores are thriving, and the market is growing,” said Jeffrey Smith, Vice President of Marketing at Discogs.

Last year, DJ Mag reported that UK vinyl sales had increased for the 16th consecutive year. In January, a survey found that independent artists found that most couldn’t afford to release music on vinyl. Earlier this year, a report from Vinyl Record Manufacturer’s Association and Vinyl Alliance found that a standard, black, 140g vinyl record produces just over 1kg CO2e, a little under that of a pint of cow’s milk.