Vinyl’s comeback story just hit a massive new milestone. For the first time in more than two decades, vinyl music sales in the United States crossed the US$1 billion mark in a single calendar year. According to a new report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), vinyl purchases reached US$1.04 billion in 2025, marking another major leap for a format that was once seen as a relic of the past.
The report also revealed that vinyl recorded its 19th consecutive year of growth, showing that demand for physical music formats is still going strong even in an era dominated by streaming. In total, fans bought an estimated 48.5 million new vinyl units last year, including LPs and EPs. That figure comfortably outpaced CD sales, which came in at 29.5 million units over the same period.
While streaming continues to lead the wider recorded music industry, vinyl’s rise remains one of the most striking stories in music consumption right now. The RIAA said the U.S. recorded music business generated more than US$11.5 billion in revenue in 2025, with streaming accounting for US$9.5 billion of that total. Vinyl, meanwhile, now represents just under 10% of the market — a remarkable share for a format that many once thought had no future in the mainstream.
The US$1 billion milestone is also significant when placed in a longer timeline. Vinyl generated US$224.9 million in revenue in 2016, meaning the format has added more than US$800 million in annual sales over the last decade alone. Growth has been especially sharp in the post-pandemic years, with revenue climbing from US$426.6 million in 2020 to US$679.4 million in 2021, before continuing its upward trajectory through 2022, 2023, 2024, and now 2025.
Among the biggest drivers of that demand was Taylor Swift, who reportedly led new LP sales in 2025. Her release The Life of a Showgirl sold around 1.6 million vinyl copies last year, once again underlining her influence not just on streaming and touring, but on physical music sales too.
Following Swift was Sabrina Carpenter, whose 2025 release Man’s Best Friend sold roughly 292,000 copies on vinyl. Kendrick Lamar landed in third place with GNX, which moved around 272,000 copies. The rankings also showed that catalogue titles still hold serious power in the vinyl market, with Rumours by Fleetwood Mac and Thriller by Michael Jackson both appearing among the year’s top-selling records.
That mix of blockbuster new releases and all-time classic albums says a lot about what vinyl means to listeners today. For some fans, it is about collecting a tangible version of the records they love most. For others, it is about the artwork, the ritual of listening, or the connection to music history. Either way, vinyl has grown far beyond being a niche format for collectors.
The latest RIAA figures suggest that vinyl is no longer just enjoying a nostalgia-fuelled revival — it has firmly established itself as a major part of how fans buy and experience music. Even though streaming remains the industry’s dominant force, vinyl’s continued growth points to something deeper: listeners still want physical formats that feel personal, lasting, and worth displaying on their shelves.
With 19 straight years of growth and more than a billion dollars in annual sales now on the board, vinyl’s momentum shows no signs of slowing down.
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