Vinyl Sales Continue to RISE in 2022: A new report reveals that the sale of vinyl has exceeded 19.4 million in the first six months of 2022. According to, Luminate, this figure represents slightly over half, or 53%, of all physical music sales (36.5 million) in the US during the first six months of 2022. This figure is an increase from the 19.2 million sales in 2021, which was a huge 108% increase in vinyl sales from the same period in 2020. This was a 30-year high for vinyl sales. These sales in the first half of this year were largely down to new recent releases rather than older titles from the catalog. Luminate’s report shows that new and current album vinyl sales (such as Harry Styles’ album) are up by 27.4% since last year.
Milwaukee, WI | ‘Romance and nostalgia’: Love for vinyl leads to record store ‘Acme Records’ in Milwaukee: Ken Chrisien started buying records at the age of 15 out of a love for music. “It coincided with the birth of CDs, so everybody was dumping their records. I could buy boxes of records for like $10,” said Ken. As his collection of records grew, he realized that buying in bulk also gave him music that he wasn’t interested in. This led Ken to sell at record shows. “I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I knew that selling them for $3 each when I’d paid $10 for a box, I was making money. I probably lost more than I made in the early days,” said Ken. For Ken, eBay was a great resource as he spent many nights searching for records and learning their value. Now 22 years later, Ken is still selling records, but with a keen sense of knowing the value of what’s trending. He opened Acme Records in 2012, building out the space himself to create a wonderful atmosphere for vinyl lovers.
Hamilton, ON | Hamilton record shop Into the Abyss is leaving Locke Street: A Hamilton favourite for vinyl finds is leaving its cozy quarters on Locke Street and setting its sights on a new location. Into the Abyss, a popular spot for records, turntables, vinyl accessories, and more, announced on social media that they will soon be vacating their current shop at 119 Locke Street South, where the business has lived since 2017. With their current building in line to be sold and rent increased to unsustainable amounts, Into the Abyss made the difficult decision to leave their first home behind and find a new spot in the city to relocate to. Thankfully, the record shop has a new home lined up, and they’ll be opening up shop soon along King Street East in Hamilton’s International Village after formally closing their Locke location as of August 28th, 2022.
Vinyl fantasy: how gamers fell in love with records: Gaming albums have been steadily rising in popularity since the early 2010s. Players and creators explain why. Caroline Grace has always enjoyed vintage technology. An IT tech in the Mid-Ohio Valley, they collect retro games, laser discs and cassette tapes, but mostly, vinyl records. Their collection is in the thousands, and hundreds of those are video game soundtracks. “I’ve been a big fan of games all my life,” says Grace. “Some of my earliest memories are playing games like Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap and Goof Troop with my dad and brother. I get positive feelings from listening to the Wonder Boy III music now. I have a lot of pleasant memories of playing it with my family back in the day.” The idea of buying video game soundtracks on vinyl may seem counter-intuitive: the most hi-tech digital entertainment medium meeting this fragile relic of the analogue era. But gaming albums have been steadily rising in popularity since the early 2010s.
Five Whitney Houston albums are coming to vinyl next year: “I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me…” Five Whitney Houston albums are set for release on vinyl across 2023. Focused on the R&B icon’s early work, the reissue series will feature Houston’s first five albums: Whitney Houston, Whitney, I’m Your Baby Tonight, The Preacher’s Wife, and My Love Is Your Love. It also marks the first time The Preacher’s Wife has appeared on vinyl, having previously only been available on CD and cassette. Details on the campaign remain scarce, with no confirmed news of bonus material or accompanying ephemera.
Philadelphia, PA | Philadelphia bookstore owners want to put local shops on the map: Brick-and-mortar shops make it easier for book lovers to find them. Fifteen years ago, when the future of brick-and-mortar bookstores seemed especially bleak, Molly Russakoff — who owns a book and record shop in the Italian Market — had an idea: If we booksellers want more customers, maybe we should make it easier for book buyers to find us. Russakoff envisioned creating a literal map of Philadelphia’s bookstores, but the idea never quite got off the ground. Now, bolstered by a growing number of bookstore owners, a grassroots fund-raising campaign, one very motivated local artist — and some fortunate timing, a potentially valuable resource for lovers of the printed word may soon appear. “There seems to be kind of a blossoming in bookstores,” said Russakoff, 64, a third-generation bookseller who opened her store, Mollys Books & Records, near Ninth Street and Washington Avenue 25 years ago. (She does the books. Her husband, Joe Ankenbrand, does the records and son John Dickie manages the place.)
