Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ causes vinyl to outsell CDs for first time since 1980s

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

Taylor Swift’s latest album, Midnights, has sold so many copies on vinyl that the format has outsold CDs.

This is the first time that the sales of vinyl have beaten the sales of CDs since the 1980s.

The Midnights vinyl sold a total of 80,000 copies in the UK – the highest number of any record made this century, The Guardian reports.

While CD sales continue to fall, the demand for physical copies of music is clearly still intact.

According to the publication, the sale of vinyl has continued to grow for the last 15 years, hitting around 5.5 million sales this year.

Harry’s House by Harry Styles was the second best-selling vinyl in the UK, followed by Arctic Monkeys with their latest album, The Car.

Arctic Monkeys appear twice on the top ten list, with their album AM at number 10, despite being released in 2013.

This year’s top sellers also feature Irish band Fontaines DC with their third album Skinty Fia and newcomers Wet Leg’s debut, Wet Leg.

Geoff Taylor, the chief executive of the British Phonographic Industry said: “As the LP marks its 75th anniversary in 2023, it’s as relevant as ever.

“In an age of streaming, physical music purchases remain an essential and healthy part of the music market.”

Swift, 33, who released Midnights in October, has already broken multiple records with her new music, with the record announced as the best-selling of 2022.

In the days following the release, Billboard announced that Swift had sold over a million copies of the album in the US.

The last time this number of sales was achieved was five years ago by Swift herself, when she released Reputation.

The news came just a few days after the star broke Spotify’s record for most album streams in a day.

You can read The Independent’s five-star review of Swift’s album here.