U.S. recorded-music wholesale revenue hit a record $11.5 billion in 2025, the RIAA said. Streaming still pays the industry. Vinyl still pays the unit. [1]
Tuesday already argued vinyl still beats playlist margins. Wednesday’s completed record is the same ledger. Luminate’s first-half 2026 tally showed CD sales jumping 16 percent while vinyl growth lagged that sprint. The RIAA’s 2025 full year still had vinyl larger in both units and money: 46.8 million units and $1.043 billion wholesale against CDs’ 29.5 million units and $312.4 million. [2]
That is not conquest of the stream. It is conquest of the physical aisle. Streaming rose 9.8 percent globally to 2.8 trillion on-demand audio plays in the first half. U.S. streams were up 4.8 percent to 732.7 billion. Vinyl remains a high-margin souvenir next to that firehose. [2]
A single LP still costs several dollars to press before anyone takes a margin. Direct-to-fan on a $30 record can leave more than a wholesale bin. A stream is fractions of a cent. [3] Labels sell nostalgia. X sells the receipt. Both are looking at the same jacket.
Record Store Day on April 18 still moves a million-album week. Catalog rock still outsells hip-hop and Latin on wax relative to their stream share. The pressing plant, not the algorithm, is the bottleneck. [2][3] Target and Walmart now take about 30 percent of physical sales, helped by alternate covers and photocards. [2]
X talks as if the turntable beat Spotify. The ledger says Spotify funds the hours and the turntable funds the identity. Artists who time a vinyl drop to a streaming campaign sell through a first pressing faster. The formats are not enemies. One is the radio. The other is the object you can hold when the license expires. [3]
Indie shops in the United States still number something like 1,400 to 1,600. They are the last analog algorithm. Streaming cannot copy that and does not need to. It already won the hours. Vinyl won the shelf and the margin on the shelf. [3]
Collectors buying three editions of the same album are not audiophiles. They are the reason Walmart cares. The revival includes that kitsch. Pretending otherwise is liner-note nostalgia. The stream still pays the rent. The record pays the ritual and the better cut. [2]
The headline inherited from Monday was conquest. Wednesday’s ledger is still margins. Vinyl did not beat the playlist for hours. It beat the playlist for the dollar that stays after the presser is paid. That is enough for a culture desk. It is not enough for a victory lap. [1][3]
Most of these records live on a kitchen counter after Record Store Day, not in a listening room. The margin still beats the playlist there. The hours still belong to the stream. Wednesday does not flip either column. [2]
-- CAMILLE BEAUMONT, Los Angeles