According to a new study Glasgow has been named the vinyl collecting capital of the UK. The Royal Mint found that up to 32 per cent of the UK’s vinyl collectors have been found to live in the Scottish city as reported in DJ Mag. The study also discovered that Glasgow was followed closely by the North East of England in boasting the most record collectors in the nation, with 25 per cent of vinyl collectors living there.

It comes after vinyl record sales in 2021 were at the highest they’ve been in 30 years, despite widely publicised issues with backlogs and delays. According to figures from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), at least five million vinyl records were sold last year which is an 8 per cent increase on 2020. It marked the 14th year in a row that the format has increased sales, with vinyl records making up 23 per cent of all albums sold.

At the time the BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor as quoted in Nova stated “It’s a great time to be a music fan, with wider choice on offer than ever before supported by great value. Thanks to record label investment into new music and talent, fans can purchase and collect the music they most love on vinyl, CD and even cassette, whilst also enjoying access to over 70 million songs to stream instantly whenever and how often they want, in turn enabling a new generation of artists to create music and sustain successful careers in a global market.”

The surge in interest of vinyl is a very intriguing  subject, below is a video discussing this new vinyl revival.

The biggest-selling vinyl album of 2021 was ABBA‘s comeback record Voyage, while Adele‘s huge 30 and Sam Fender‘s Seventeen Going Under also sold big on vinyl. This has been greatly helped by campaigns such as LoveRecordStores, Record Store Day and National Album Day which really rallied sales for independent record shops and specialist chains.

Earlier this year, it was also reported that vinyl sales in the UK look set to overtake CDs. Vinyl albums brought in £135.6million in 2021 (up 23.2 per cent year-on-year) compared to £150.1million in CD sales (down 3.9 per cent year-on-year). On this current growth trajectory, vinyl will be ahead of CDs by the end of this year. It also emerged earlier this month that people born in the Gen Z bracket purchase more vinyl records, than their milennial elders which may greatly explain the increase.