Discogs leads the vinyl boom with over $43.5 million in sales this year

The online database and marketplace turns 15 with a bang.

Discogs celebrates its 15th birthday this year. To mark the occasion, the site has revealed some proprietary data about its transactions to Billboard.

So far in 2015, the marketplace has supported $43.5 million in transactions. Putting that into a context we prefer, that’s 2.5 million records, half a million CDs and 50,000 tapes.

Started as a hobby by Kevin Lewandowski back in 2000, the exponential growth of the site dovetails a more general increase in vinyl sales – which are on track for their biggest total in over two decades.

Average prices for vinyl are the highest since Discogs started tracking sales information in 2005. From 2005 through to 2014, the average release value increased from $11.25 to $13.37.

Earlier this year, as we reported here, Chung King Can Suck It by hardcore band Judge sold for $6,048; making it the single most expensive record ever sold on Discogs, and also the highest ever single order created on the site.

Last year, 2.96 million users participated in a transaction on the site, up from 130,675 in 2005 and 3,273 in 2001. And as the site’s popularity has grown, so too has its database. It currently lists close to six million titles.

Discogs has created an infographic summarising all of these juicy stats and more – which you can explore at your leisure here. [via Billboard]