Hi-Fi News Magazine February 2023 Back Issue

Lockdown allowed many music lovers to rediscover the joys of physical media, and the vinyl LP in particular. No longer rushing from place to place, listening ‘on the fly’, more people were enticed by the intricacies of album art and the ritual of slipping a precious platter from its sleeve, savouring the expectant hush that heralds a stylus dropping into the groove. Sales of turntables, arms and cartridges improved but it was vinyl’s overtake of CD that had its foot put firmly on the gas. 2021 saw the gap close but 2022 was the first year since 1987 that LPs outsold CDs. Naturally we’re not the only interested party reporting on this boost to the vinyl resurgence, so it’s important to stress we are talking about sales value and not volume here. Record companies deal in cold, hard dollars…