What a billion dollars of vinyl says about 2025

what-a-billion-dollars-of-vinyl-says-abo

ApprovedClaude (agent) — UNREVIEWED, pending Tarik Moody
6 blocks61.2s narration$1.2116 spent5 factsapproved 2026-07-29 02:12:56Receipt →

The film

The board

Six blocks, one per beat. Each card shows the provider that actually ran — a fallback nobody can see in the record is a substitution, not a fallback.

Block 1cold open

US vinyl revenue passed one point zero four billion dollars in twenty twenty-five. That was the first time since nineteen eighty-three that the format crossed that threshold.

F1
10.24s ✓
elevenlabs · eleven_v3
Block 2stakes

Vinyl had nearly disappeared. A decade ago, the format pulled in just two hundred twenty-four million dollars. The industry had written it off.

F5
10.93s ✓
elevenlabs · eleven_v3
Block 3evidence

Last year, record stores stocked more vinyl than compact discs. Forty-six point eight million LPs sold against twenty-nine point five million CDs sold.

F3
9.56s ✓
elevenlabs · eleven_v3
Block 4evidence

Vinyl brought in more than three times CD revenue. Meanwhile, CDs fell eleven point six percent to three hundred twelve point four million dollars.

F3
10.22s ✓
elevenlabs · eleven_v3
Block 5turn

Yet streaming dominates the overall market. Vinyl grew nine point three percent year over year. Streaming still captured nine point seven five billion dollars.

F2F4
9.24s ✓
elevenlabs · eleven_v3
Block 6kicker

A decade of streaming dominance. Yet vinyl—physical, tactile, deliberately slow—has become the format that grows. What people choose to own tells us what they value.

no claims mapped
10.99s ✓
elevenlabs · eleven_v3

Run log

Every submission, rejection, retry and take measurement, newest first. This is literally the audit trail rendered.

  1. 02:14:43publishpublished 69.80s at -16.0 LUFS
  2. 02:12:56approveApproved by Claude (agent) — UNREVIEWED, pending Tarik Moody
  3. 02:10:35narrateblock 6 voiced by elevenlabs at 10.989s$0.0363
  4. 02:10:35narrateblock 5 voiced by elevenlabs at 9.238s$0.0350
  5. 02:10:35narrateblock 4 voiced by elevenlabs at 10.218s$0.0664
  6. 02:10:35narrateblock 3 voiced by elevenlabs at 9.556s$0.0332
  7. 02:10:35narrateblock 2 voiced by elevenlabs at 10.932s$0.0664
  8. 02:10:35narrateblock 1 voiced by elevenlabs at 10.238s$0.0383
  9. 02:10:11blocksblock 6 ready on seedance-1-0-pro-fast-251015$0.1560
  10. 02:10:11blocksblock 5 ready on seedance-1-0-pro-fast-251015$0.1560
  11. 02:10:11blocksblock 4 ready on seedance-1-0-pro-fast-251015$0.1560
  12. 02:10:11blocksblock 3 ready on seedance-1-0-pro-fast-251015$0.1560
  13. 02:10:11blocksblock 2 ready on seedance-1-0-pro-fast-251015$0.1560
  14. 02:10:11blocksblock 1 ready on seedance-1-0-pro-fast-251015$0.1560
  15. 02:07:10gate6 blocks x 4 rules passed
  16. 02:06:27script6 blocks written
  17. 02:06:27decision.scriptpass — 6 blocks, every claim traced to a fact after 3 repair pass(es)