These sales figures for Vinyl, CD, and Cassette Tapes might surprise you

According to a report from Music Week, physical music media is making a comeback. More people purchased vinyl, CDs, cassettes, and other physical music in 2024 in the UK compared to the year before. This was the first time in 20 years that physical music has seen a year-over-year increase. While it was only a 1.4% annual increase, the reversal in a decades-long decline is notable.

The main driver of physical media continues to be vinyl record sales, which increased by 9.1% last year for the 17th consecutive year of growth. There were 6.7 million vinyl records sold last year in the UK. While global record sales are still a fraction of their peak in the 1970’s, there has been significant growth since the early 2000’s. In an interesting twist, another report has found that only 50% of people who bought a vinyl record in 2023 actually own a record player, so many are purchasing records simply as a collector’s item. That said, the trend is distinctly positive for the record industry as a whole.

While the vast majority of physical media sales are in vinyl records, cassette tapes appear to be in the early stages of a renaissance of their own. The Music Week report states that cassette sales are up 204.7% in Q1 of 2025. While that seems like exceptional growth, there were only 63,288 total units sold, so it is still a niche format compared to vinyl. If the trend continues, though, don’t be surprised to see people with cassette players around you soon.

CD sales continue to trend downwards, though perhaps Gen Alpha or Gen Beta will make CD’s cool again in a few years.