FOREVER VINYL

The ritual of record collecting and the allure of analog sound has endured from generation to generation, proving that vinyl albums are here to stay.

STORY BY MEGAN DEMAREST 

PHOTOGRAPH BY CRAIG LIGHT

Since Thomas Edison’s revolutionary phonograph in 1877 and Emile Berliner’s flat gramophone disc in 1887, sound’s original format has, with some tweaks, withstood the test of time, despite the evolution of audio technology. In my universe, vinyl records have always been in style. I remember checking out record stores as a kid in the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, long after I’d given up my Fisher Price turntable and before I’d gotten a real one. I couldn’t play records on anything at the time, but I loved looking at the cover art and the album credits in large format. As hip-hop began to emerge from every sound system, the image of the DJ spinning beats across multiple turntables also added to the enticing culture of vinyl.

Eventually, Matt, my musician boyfriend (now husband) and I moved in together, and his die-hard love for vinyl eked into our household. I finally had a real turntable. Over the course of our 34-year relationship, we have acquired a relatively small collection compared to some audiophiles I know. I recall countless outings with him where I found myself wandering off somewhere else while he’d get completely lost crate digging at an indie record store. My personal browsing limits are miniscule compared to his. He’s not an anomaly, though; many of our Boomer, Gen X, and Millennial friends can get equally as lost in the stacks.

Because of this, it doesn’t feel to me like vinyl has had a resurgence, but it has. We’re in an era when entire music libraries fit into your palm and a month’s worth of access to nearly any song ever recorded costs less than your lunch. And yet, millions of people are still choosing to listen the old way — carefully pulling a twelve-inch disc from a sleeve by its edge, lowering a needle, and waiting for the warm, familiar crackle that precedes the music. It is slower to manufacture, more expensive, heavier to move, and considerably more fragile than streaming. But there is something about the ceremony of it all that makes it ever appealing. And the sound…oh, the sound. It’s like earthy velvet to my ear drums.

Vinyl never fully disappeared, but its popularity with Gen Z over the past fifteen plus years has been surprising. Record Store Day, launched in 2008 as a small celebration of independent music shops, has become a genuine cultural event. It’s generally celebrated on the third Saturday in April and on Black Friday. According to the Record Store Day website, the event has had official ambassadors since 2009, with musicians like Iggy Pop, Chuck D, Dave Grohl, and Taylor Swift all joining the ranks. Bruno Mars was the most recent US Ambassador on Record Store Day, April 18, 2026. All these artists have relatively new releases on vinyl. 

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has cited a significant growth in vinyl sales over the past 19 years, with total US sales surpassing $1 billion in 2025. Used vinyl sales have also gone up with an estimated 42 million records sold in 2025 according to Russ Crupnick of MusicWatch. And the buyers are not only nostalgists like me chasing the sounds of their youth — they are overwhelmingly young, and some of them are purchasing records for music they have only ever known through curated streaming. They care about collectability, uniqueness of sound, and the artistry found in the physical format. 

Cool, right? This means that we can enjoy the velvety warm sound of vinyl with our kids and grandkids, and maybe even raid their collections. Luckily for the whole family, there are several places in the Manchester area that have sweet vinyl collections to shop, including the Northshire Bookstore right in town