For years, record players have been known for their sound quality and classic feel. However, after the 80’s, record player and vinyl sales started to decline after the rise of CD’s and now digital downloads. But after the late 2000’s, vinyl is back with a bang.

Vinyl sales have increased exponentially over the past few years. According to Newsweek, it was a 40 percent increase from the beginning of 2013 to the beginning of 2014. The number of vinyl records sold in 2007 was only 1 million, but as of 2013, the numbers stretched to 6 million. The music industry has also noticed the rise in vinyl album sales, referring to it as the ‘vinyl revival’. While digital downloads still dominate the field, CD sales have dropped drastically in comparison to the rising comeback of vinyl. Most of the top vinyl albums of 2014 have something in common: the alternative genre. AM by the Arctic Monkeys, Lazaretto by Jack White, Pure Heroin by Lorde, Turn Blue by The Black Keys, and many others have made their way to vinyl stores. Older artists such as the Beatles, Bob Marley, and Pink Floyd have also started to make a comeback with the rise of record players.

Now that the industry has established a presence, other artists have decided to hop on the bandwagon. Taylor Swift released 1989 on vinyl in 2014 and was met with positive reviews. With the release of 1989, Taylor Swift basically kicked down an imaginary door for what an artist can do. If she can bring back vinyl, so can everyone else. You can now find a wide variety in genres, artists, and release dates. Kanye West, Lana Del Ray, Taylor Swift, The Beatles, Fleet Foxes, Eminem, and many other artists can probably be found on vinyl. If you go to any store that carries music, you’ll see they’ve started to carry record players and vinyl to maintain the consumer demand. To name a few: Urban Outfitters, Best Buy, and V-Stock.

Even though record players can now be decked out to download and convert albums to digital, store them on a flashdrive, or have the whole thing hooked up to a stereo- regardless, they are back. The rich static sound is being heard all over the nation once more, and the industry is still growing.