For the first time in more than four decades, US vinyl sales have exceeded $1bn in annual revenue. According to a report by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) published on 16 March, vinyl purchases reached $1.04bn in 2025, marking the 19th consecutive year of growth for the format once considered a niche interest.
Vinyl sales grossed 46.8m units in 2025, a rise of 7.9% from 43.4m in 2024. CD sales brought in less than a third of that at $312.4m, while other physical formats such as cassettes earned $25.8m. The resurgence has been led by Taylor Swift, whose 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl was the year's bestselling vinyl release with 1.6m sales.
Swift released eight vinyl variants of the album with alternate artwork and colours, some available only for 48-hour windows. Overall, she released at least 34 variants across all formats. Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend sold 292,000 vinyl copies, and Kendrick Lamar's GNX sold 272,000, rounding out the top three.
The vinyl boom has drawn criticism. YouTube personality Anthony Fantano questioned whether multiple variants exploit fans, and Billie Eilish described superfluous vinyl packages as wasteful. Eilish's most recent album was pressed on 100% recycled vinyl, while Coldplay's Moon Music used recycled plastic bottles.
Despite the milestone, vinyl represents less than 10% of US music sales. Streaming generated $9.5bn in revenue, dwarfing vinyl's $1bn. US consumers purchased about 48.5m new vinyl releases (excluding used sales), compared to 29.5m CDs.
