US sees weekly vinyl album sales soar to new modern era high

30 December 2022, 15:59 | Written by Cerys Kenneally

(News)

Vinyl had its biggest sales week in the US since Luminate started tracking music sales in 1991 last week.

Billboard reports that over 2.2 million vinyl albums were sold in the US last week (ending 22 December), the highest number on the format since Luminate started digitally recording sales in 1991. It also marks the second time since 1991 that weekly vinyl album sales have passed two million. The previous modern era weekly sales record was 2.1 million, which was hit on the week ending 23 December 2021.

Compared to the week ending 15 December, vinyl album sales increased 46.7% in the US. Predictably, Taylor Swift's tenth album Midnights was the top-selling LP of that week, with 68,000 copies sold.

On the week ending 22 December, 57% of all album sales in the US were vinyl albums, and the format also accounted for 63% of all physical album sales in the same week.

Earlier this week it was revealed that Taylor Swift's Midnights has caused UK vinyl sales to overtake CDs for the first time in 35 years.