When did vinyl become mainstream again?

This is indicative of little. Vinyl is used for a lot of things. We don't know what part of this percentage is used for records.

Ed

 

That made me smile.

 

You say "don't like"; I say "not impressed". You simply don't know what you are talking about. I did leave open the outside possibility that you have some data, but obviously not.

 

For me the vinyl phenomenon restarted ironically enough with the move to on-line CD sales.

As Amazon emerged as the CD sales powerhouse,( and certain other specialty sellers, ebay, etc) I pretty much stopped buying CD's from physical stores.
By about 2006 or 2007 I realized that the only reason I was committed to the CD format was access to the titles i wanted, and I had historicaly bought locally.

But with access to the global market, the internet made finding vinyl titles (new and used) much more possible. It wasn't long before i was thinking about
why i was buying titles on CD when i wanted them on vinyl? I stopped buying CD's pretty much altogether at that point, and have been vinyl only ever since.

 

Based on the graph, I'd say 0%.

 

This is a hipster:

 

IIRC, the films Empire Records (2000) and Ghost World (2001) may have provided a bit of a jump start to the popularity of record collecting at the time. That's what inspired my daughter and her friends to start collecting vinyl.

 

weak sauce.

 

I would say that the Beatles mono boxset of 2014 was a turning point. Our vinyl sales literally exploded with that product (and immediately after it) and it's when customers really turned their attention to selling vinyl and keeping an stock of best selling titles.

 

I rarely pay list for new vinyl. I am a Barnes And Noble member ($25/year) and along with 10% off all purchases year-round, almost every week they email 20%/30% off coupons (in addition to the 10% member discount) so I usually can get whatever I want for up to 40% off the list price. The membership usually pays for itself within a month for me because of the savings.

 

Brill Cream... a little dab'll do ya!

Ed

 

Now it makes perfect sense! I look forward to a pie chart of 2016 when all the data is available!

 

I think that the turning point was around 2007. I had been buying vinyl as a collector, and in 2005-2006, most albums I bought were issued in limited quantities (like McCartney's Chaos, or the Stones' Bigger Bang). Some alt-rock releases, like Pearl Jam albums, were only issued in the EU. Some, like the White Stripes' Satan, weren't issued on vinyl in any markets.

I recall the audiophile market coming back in a big way, with Classic Records releases getting particular attention. Then Record Store Day came in 2007, which got a lot of press. By 2008-2009, it seemed like every new release was being issued on vinyl (especially alternative rock), often in multiple colors.

 

Out of the 30 or so people in my office, I'm the only one who owns music on vinyl. Everyone else streams, but they are well aware that vinyl is a happening thing.

I don't recall when I first saw new records at the grocery store, must have been around 2012? That's probably when it started to really surge in popularity with the general public.

 

I work in an office of 24 people. Aside from myself, half a dozen others are into vinyl. That's up from two others a couple years ago, and it's evenly split between men and women. Their ages range from early 20s to late 30s, and all of them stream or download as well. What they don't do is listen to CDs.

 

you probably live in San Francisco or NYC. Or work in a job with people of high IQ. like Tech industry or engineering

 

I'm still the only person I know, work or home or friends, that buys vinyl on a regular basis.

But then again I'm the only person I know who still buys CD's. So there's that.

 

all these articles are probably being written because they were paid by the music industry because the music industry started making money again.

 

I live in Portland, and I work in publishing.

 

Records became mainstream in about 1890, and they have remained the only medium to survive for well over 100 years. Their popularity has ebbed and flowed over time, but nothing will ever, ever, ever be able to topple vinyl / records as the predominant music medium of human history.

 

They virtually vanished between 1991 and 2008. Major albums that came out during that time were made available on CD and cassette only, then CD only, then CD and download only. They didn't ebb, they were a memory.

Ed

 

Except you're wrong. Plenty of major albums came out on vinyl during that period, just not in massive quantities. I think saying vinyl sales only ebbed is overstating that side of things, too -- they cratered -- but to say the format "virtually vanished" is off base, too. The sheep in their hordes may have ignored their exist after being told CDs were the best thing in the world of music ever, but records were still pressed and sold.