In 2022, vinyl records are selling better than PS5 games or Blu-Rays

The arrival of the CD, and a few years later of streaming, was to send vinyl records and record players to the scrap heap. The 33 laps are however experiencing a resurgence of affection with DJs and the general public.

The arrival of the CD format and other digital media heralded the decline of analog media such as audio cassette, VHS and other vinyl. Despite the advent of the Internet for the general public, which effectively precipitated the abandonment of physical media in favor of digital files, and now streaming, vinyl never totally disappearedworn at arm’s length by a community of passionate audiophiles and DJs.

You could even say that the record pressing factories are doing better and better. As a physical medium, its sales are even exemplary. According to figures provided by the ERA (Entertainment Retailers Association), in the United Kingdom, only Nintendo Switch game cartridges have sold better (in terms of revenue) than microgroove discs.

In the United Kingdom, we prefer the vinyl cake to Blu-Ray and the PS5

A small clarification before starting: we are talking here about sales of physical media and not dematerialized sales. Thus, PlayStation 4 and 5 games generated “only” 93 million euros, while discs brought in 91.5 million euros (a 12% increase compared to the previous year). The ranking also reveals that other physical media are experiencing growing disaffection, such as DVDs, whose sales plummet (-20%), or even worse, physical PC games, which only brought in 666,560 euro for now.

Admittedly, the ERA figures relate only to England, but we can consider that they are indicative of a global trend. Kim Bailey, President of ERA is not mistaken and declares: “the fact that a 74-year-old analog format is eclipsing the digital technologies of gaming platforms is quite extraordinary. […] Vinyl is definitely here to last.”

Vinyl never ceases to rise from its ashes. Last year, as a harbinger, it dethroned the CD for the first time since 1986. That being said, let’s not lose sight that with revenues estimated at $300 billion in 2021, the video game industry generates more revenue than film and music reunited. These figures are as much indicative of the success of Nintendo’s Switch and the end of the physical sale of video games as of the renewed interest in the good old vinyl acetate wafer.

UK physical media sales:

Source: ERA