Taylor Swift's 'Midnights' Causes Vinyl To Outsell CDs For the First Time In 35 Years

Taylor Swift's "Midnights" album is now the biggest-selling vinyl record in the United Kingdom, outselling CDs for the first time since 1987.

The release of the 33-year-old Grammy-award-winning musician's tenth studio album in October sparked an increase in vinyl album sales, pushing the annual revenue to grow to about 5.5 million for the fifteenth consecutive year with 80,000 copies of "Midnights" albums sold this year, according to The Guardian.

The outlet noted that Swift's album sold the most out of any album in a calendar year within 100 years. CD sales have been fluctuating due to the emergence of the digital streaming platform, and it last peaked at 2.45 billion globally over 22 years ago.

Interestingly, the collection of vinyl records, which was built largely from older music fans who sought to collect vinyl album versions from classic artists, including the Beatles, David Bowie, and Pink Floyd, has expanded to the younger generation because of their newfound love for retro music formats such as cassettes.

"It's a watershed moment for the entire music industry," the chief executive of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), Kim Bayley, told The Guardian, "After the CD came along and pretty much wiped out the vinyl business, few of us would have believed a renaissance like this was possible."

Last year, the revenue for vinyl album sales peaked at 23% to $162.9 million. But CD sales continuously dropped by 3.9% to $180.3 million, according to the ERA, and would fall behind vinyl LPs by about $24 million.

Bayley noted that the CD might "disappear" in the near future because of its declining number in sales, despite selling at least 14 million CDs last year. However, it still offered a unique "permanence, robustness, and quality," so it would be "foolish" to take CDs off the market.

Before the "Midnights" album's release, Harry Style's "Harry's House" reigned as the best-selling vinyl record in the U.K. upon its release in May, and was followed by Artic Monkeys' latest album titled "The Car," the Independent reported.

Arctic Monkeys appeared on this year's top ten list for best-selling vinyl albums, with their 2013 album "AM" ranked at No. 10. Meanwhile, Liam Gallagher's "C'mon You Know," and Wet Leg's "Wet Leg" made it to the top 4, and 5, respectively.

According to The Guardian, LP sales are expected to continuously increase to a "more than four-decade high" by the end of this year, with music fans reaching the "peak" in vinyl sales.

"As the LP marks its 75th anniversary in 2023, it's as relevant as ever in an age of streaming, physical music purchases remain an essential and healthy part of the music market," the chief executive of the British Phonographic Industry, Geoff Taylor, said according to the outlet.

"Midnights" has broken several records within 24 hours since its release. Swift became the first artist in the Billboard 100 history music chart to occupy every single spot in the top 10 all at once and now has the most top 10 songs among women in the chart's history with 40 singles.

The album reportedly sold over 1.2 million units in the United States during its first three days of release, marking it as the first time an artist sold more than a million copies in its debut week, since Swift's 2017 "Reputation" album.

"Midnights" also became the most streamed album within a day with 184.6 million streams and the most streamed act on Spotify with 227 million streams, beating Drake's 2021 "Certified Lover Boy" album, which accumulated 153.4 million streams.