Aside from his (total surprise) iPhone 5, the big gift we got my younger (nearly 15) son was a turntable. Sure it has USB capabilities and so on … but it is still a turntable. And he uses it not just for my older electronic stuff, but also for some brand new things or re-releases from Daft Punk and others. Vinyl never really went away, with DJs and audiophiles keeping it going at low levels … but over the last several years it has seen double-digit increases each year as more and more younger folks join in on the trend.
According to HypeBot, “For the fifth consecutive year, more vinyl albums were purchased than any other year in the history of Nielsen SoundScan.” According to the report the UK had a robust year as well, with a 15% increase year-on-year. The list of top vinyl albums of 2012 includes:
1.Blunderbuss – Jack White
2.Abbey Road – Beatles
3.Babel – Mumford & Sons
4.El Camino – Black Keys
5.Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons
6.Bloom – Beach House
7.For Emma Forever Ago – Bon Iver
8.Boys & Girls – Alabama Shakes
9.21 – Adele
10.Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Personally my vinyl usage was to dump things on tape and try to keep the records from getting scratched up, and then I ran to digital as fast as possible when the CD was introduced – and never really looked back, even in cases where it meant rebuying the same music I already had on vinyl. So this trend remains a curiosity to me even as I watch my son enamored with vinyl — and suffering with one of his new albums being a skip-monster he had to return.
What do you think?