Discogs Leads Vinyl Boom, Exceeds 43 Million in Sales for 2015

Discogs, the online vinyl and CD marketplace, celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, the site has shared some propriety information regarding its role within the US vinyl boom with Billboard: so far in 2015 the site has exceeded $43.5 million in sales. To translate that figure into terms we audiophiles prefer, that's 2.5 million records, half a million CDs and 50,000 cassette tapes. Furthermore, as Resident Advisor reports, the figures reflect an industry-wide increase in vinyl sales, with the stats in the US at their highest in 25 years.

This record-breaking figures aren't so surprising when the fact that the so-called vinyl revolution has been reported widely the past few years. According to MixMag, US sales of the beloved format hit 9 million units in the first half of 2015. Based on figures from the Recording Industry of America, MixMag reports total vinyl sales in 2014 reaching 14 million units. Based on the figures from the first part of this year, it's safe to say that the quantity of vinyl sold this year compared to last has gone up about 30 percent.

The average prices for vinyl have also gone up this year; in fact, the average price tag on records is at its highest since Discogs began tracking sales statistics in 2005, Billboard reports. Last year the average hit $13.37. Billboard points out that those figures are probably influenced by some collectors' pieces with hefty price tags. This year, the most expensive record, hardcore band Judge's Chung King Can Suck It, went for $5,958.36. Previously, the most expensive item sold on the site was Mistifide's Equidity Funk which went for $3,861.90 in 2011.

Discogs started as a catalogue for electronic music, particularly drum'n'bass and techno, back in 2000. Since then, Oregon-based programmer Kevin Lewandowski's one-man project has expanded into a 40-person operation with several offices around the world.

Earlier this Fall Discogs launched a new project with the goal of cataloguing every single piece of music ever created in the world. Check out the video for the initiative below.

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Vinyl