In the wake of our coverage of CD vs. vinyl sales in the UK in 2022 where the former still outsells the latter 2 to 1, I went looking for more data. The most up-to-date figures from Germany’s music industry body, the BVMI, show that 25.1 million CDs were sold in Germany in 2021 but only 4.5 million vinyl LPs. In the USA, the RIAA’s EoY report for 2021 reveals a much closer call between these two physical formats: 39.7 million vinyl LPs vs. 46.6 million CDs. However, it could be closer still by year’s end with the RIAA’s report for the first half of 2022 showing vinyl pipping CDs to the post – 21.8 million vs 17.7 million units shifted. It will be interesting to see where those EoY sales figures land once Black Friday and Christmas have been factored in.

Source: The Guardian January 30, 2023 22:31 UTC