Vinyl Records Resurgence Continues
By thom·January 16, 2026
So apparently, vinyl’s still the comeback kid — nineteen years running. Yep, Luminate’s 2025 music report says vinyl sales jumped another 8.6%, while digital album sales face-planted nearly 16%. Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl led the charge — 1.6 million copies spun on turntables. Sabrina Carpenter and Kendrick Lamar grabbed the silver and bronze.
Luminate’s CEO basically said streaming’s wild west days are over — now it’s all about “depth,” like your playlist’s gone philosophical. The music world’s getting more strategic, mixing with film, games, and global culture. Case in point: a Led Zeppelin doc on Netflix bumped their streams 16%. Daft Punk’s Fortnite event? Nearly 50% spike. Turns out pixels and play buttons sell records.
Even with AI artists cashing $3 million deals, half of listeners still want that “human spark” in their tunes. So yeah — in 2025, the future of music looked high-tech… but still sounded kind of old-school. Translation: The kids dig vinyl. Cue the needle drop.
Source: Variety
Photo by Jakob Rosen on Unsplash