More than 19 millions records have been sold in the US already this year

A small increase on last year’s figures.

36.5 million physical album sales in the US so far this year.

Read more: The COVID-19 pandemic boosted vinyl sales by 27%, now people are upgrading their setups

The slight bump (from 19.2 million in the same period last year) suggests a slow down in the rapid 51% growth recorded across the whole of 2021.

Sales in the first half of this year have skewed away from existing catalogue releases and towards newer releases. Former One Direction member Harry Styles broke the modern-era record for first-week physical album sales earlier this year, shifting 183,000 copies of his third studio album, Harry’s House, in May.

The report unearths distinct demographic trends too. Among women, the younger Gen Z audience accounts for 34% of sales; while the older Millennial and Gen X generations tend to do the bulk of the buying on the men’s side, with 31% apiece.