50% of vinyl buyers in the US don’t own a record player (according to a recent study)

According to NMEA recent study indicated that 50% of US citizens who buy vinyl do not own a record player.

“50% of consumers who bought vinyl records in the past 12 months own a record player, compared to 15% of all music listeners,” reveals Music Business Worldwide.

While not a huge surprise, the data reveals that vinyl today has a different meaning than its original audio use. In fact, physical forms seem to have become more of a compendium or a way to support the artist than a way to listen to music.

The news follows recent reports that vinyl has overtaken CDs in the UK for the first time in 35 years, according to figures released by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) in January.

Although we did not find any (recent) data for France, it appears from the case reports that the phenomenon experienced by English-speaking countries is not unique to them. As an indication, in 2021, more than 5 million vinyls were sold in France, three times more than in 2016.