Vinyl Records Keep Spinning: Sales Surge Again

JARRED HILL: The old-school format is making new waves across the music world.

"You are never alone if you're in a room with a record player and a record's playing," said one customer at a New York store.

JARRED HILL: In 2025, vinyl sales increased for the 19th straight year, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Mike Davis, who opened Academy Records in New York a quarter-century ago, remembers a very different moment for records.

MIKE DAVIS: "That was the low point, at least in the commercial landscape for records."

JARRED HILL: The mood began to change a few years ago. Today studies show Gen Z is a major force behind the resurgence, often nudged by social media.

"I'm sure some of it sometimes they heard a song on a TikTok video or something," a shopper observed. "TikTok is bringing people to the record store."

Not every collector discovered records through apps. Joseph Mintz, 20, says a single trip with his dad hooked him.

JOSEPH MINTZ: "My dad took me to a record store just once, and I fell in love with it."

JARRED HILL: Mintz, who began collecting at age 10, values ownership in a way streaming can't match.

JOSEPH MINTZ: "Someone can just take their music off Spotify or streaming at any time. If you own the record, you own the record."

JARRED HILL: The revival has been amplified by contemporary artists releasing multiple colored variants of new albums, which draws collectors but raises environmental questions.

"The industry's making a lot of records. It creates a lot of excess waste," one critic said.

JARRED HILL: Matt Slifkin of Independent Record Pressing says demand has spiked for reissues made from leftover colored vinyl. The process, called eco mix, reuses already-produced material and can reduce waste.

MATT SLIFKIN: "It helps answer environmental concerns because it's already made. It's already at the facility."

JARRED HILL: Back at Academy Records, Mintz keeps hunting for rare finds.

JOSEPH MINTZ: "Anything that I can find that, like, I've never seen this one before."

JARRED HILL: For collectors, shop owners and pressing plants alike, vinyl's comeback shows no signs of slowing down. The beat goes on.

Jarred Hill, CBS News, New York.