Why Vinyl Is Spinning Back into Style

Not long ago, physical music looked finished. Streaming took over, digital downloads topped the charts, and the shelves emptied. Now vinyl is back, and it isn’t just nostalgia.

The numbers
UK vinyl sales have now grown for 18 years in a row according to BPI figures, with 7.6 million LPs sold in 2025, up 13.3%, and spending on the format reached around £174 million. Most of the ten biggest-selling vinyl albums of 2025 were recent releases, so it isn’t all reissues. CDs have had a tougher time, falling 7.6% to 9.7 million, but physical album sales overall have now grown two years running after 19 years of decline.

Why people are buying
It comes down to the experience. Dropping a needle, flipping a gatefold sleeve or reading a CD booklet is a different thing from tapping a playlist. Collectors love coloured pressings and deluxe editions, and plenty of people just like owning something nobody can remove from a library overnight. Younger fans are discovering crate digging, while older ones are rebuilding the collections they once had. Buying a record usually pays the artist more than a stream does.

Then there’s the sound. This is purely my own listening, not science, but I think an old pressing can sound different from a new reissue. Many reissues are digitally remastered and cleaned up, and to my ear that takes away some of the natural ambience of the original sessions. It’s a little more clinical, a bit like listening to a CD rather than a record. That’s not a knock on reissues, plenty are fantastic.

The squeeze on pressing
Plenty of pressing plants closed in the streaming years, and the ones left are struggling to keep up. Independent labels have reported waits of anywhere from six months to a year for a run, where before Covid it was a few months.

Big names add to the queue. Ed Sheeran said in 2021 that Adele had booked out the vinyl factories, and Variety reported (via Consequence), citing Sony sources, that over half a million copies of her album 30 were pressed, with catalogue titles pushed off Sony’s overseas plants to make room. Sony declined official comment.

Travis’s Fran Healy has said Taylor Swift’s demand is squeezing out smaller artists, though he also says stars like her keep money flowing through the industry.

That pressure is one reason new records cost more. Most start at £20 to £25 now, and limited pressings like coloured or signed editions can cost a lot more.

CDs, from where I’m standing
New CD sales fell nationally in 2025, but at the shop I’ve noticed a big jump in CD sales so far in 2026, mostly preowned. I think there are two reasons. People are fed up of streaming and not actually owning anything. And my theory, and it’s only a theory, is the car trade. People are refitting older cars from the CD era, putting the original or a replacement stereo back in to get them back to how they were when they launched. I saw the same thing when tapes made their comeback a few years ago: people were coming in asking for cassettes for their cars. I’ve nothing to prove it beyond chats with customers and watching the car enthusiasts at work.

Preowned keeps it affordable
With new prices rising, second-hand is where a lot of the fun is. It costs less, it keeps records in use, and crate digging never gets old.

Some places are moving to more eco-friendly manufacturing, but like any recycling, there’s still a lot of waste. Preowned is the better option for the planet, because it keeps records out of landfill. (Related: beginner’s guide to preowned vinyl.)

Where it’s heading
Physical won’t overtake streaming again, but it has found a settled place beside it, and artists use both. ERA counted 461 independent record shops in early 2024, 122 more than a decade ago.

Originally published on DD Music Geek, updated October 2026.

Sources:

• Newindustryfocus: UK recorded music market grew for 11th consecutive year
• Dork: Vinyl sales in the UK reach their highest point in more than three decades
• Music Business Worldwide: UK audio music stream volume topped 210 billion in 2025
• Yahoo/Business Insider: Ed Sheeran on Adele and the vinyl factories
• Consequence: Adele vinyl production

From the shop
A few of the records on the shelves right now:

Products shown above are sold through my shop, DD Music Geek, where you’ll find the full terms and conditions.