(AllHipHop News) 2017 was a great year for streaming services. According to industry data, the number of streams increased by 50.3% from 2016.
However, an “old” music format is still gaining traction from consumers. Billboard reports vinyl album sales hit 14.32 million units in 2017 which was a 9% rise from the previous twelve months.
This means sales for vinyl has climbed for the twelfth straight year. Commercial consumption of analog LPs represented 8.5% of all album sales last year (up 6.5%) and were 14% of all physical album sales (up 11%).
Rock was the leading genre in vinyl sales in 2017. Projects by The Beatles, Ed Sheeran, Amy Winehouse, Prince, Bob Marley, and Michael Jackson made the list of the Top 10 selling vinyl albums in the United States.
Hip Hop culture was, in part, built off vinyl records. Influential deejays such as DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Grand Wizzard Theodore, and DJ Jazzy Jay helped pioneer the art form by using LPs for scratching, mixing, and finding the breaks on songs.
Vinyl Me, Please helped contribute to fans listening to Hip Hop albums on record players in 2017. The Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready To Die was selected as the service’s “Record of the Month” for September, and the “Rap and Hip Hop” subscription offered Vinyl Me, Please member’s projects such as Noname’s Telefone.