Vinyl’s resurgence over the last 10 years was obvious, but Paul Kennedy was never sure to what extent.
As director of data and analysis at Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ), he questioned whether he was just part of a niche interest group: “Are we the only ones experiencing this?”
But then music journalist Charlotte Ryan and The Spinoff founder Duncan Greive approached him for their podcast, The Long Play.
Released October 8, the podcast looks at the warped history of vinyl in Aotearoa, starting in Ōtautahi Christchurch in 1879, right through to its surging popularity in the present day. “The Long Play confirmed a lot of anecdotes,” says Kennedy, who spoke as a guest on the podcast.
What became clear is that vinyl is back, for good. For Ryan, she was surprised to find how emotional people’s connection to vinyl still is. “Every conversation I had – whether it was a teenager buying their first record or a lifelong collector, had stories with all of their records. One woman cried when she spoke to me about her listening vinyl experience and the memories it evoked.”
As well as being available on streaming services, The Long Play has also been pressed to vinyl itself, in a limited edition run. This moment is the one that has stuck with Greive.
“For something I’ve spent most of my life loving and playing, I never stopped to think about how it was made. See tubes of plastic squashed into discs, the care and precision and satisfyingly industrial nature of the process – it was such a treat. And wild to think what they were pressing was… our story of the medium itself.”
Diving into the data
The Long Play acted as a catalyst for RMNZ to do some “proper detective work” and discover what have been the biggest vinyl sellers in recent years.
Kennedy, together with colleague, data specialist Michael Cathro, combed back through years of raw data – from 2003 to 2025 – to build the first ever Top 40 chart for vinyl.
Until then, it had never had its own chart: “I didn’t know we were going to need one – I thought they were all over,” says Kennedy, who has been with RMNZ since the early 2000s.
Music sales submissions is usually tallied by “units sold”, so in some cases it remained unclear whether a retailer meant CD or vinyl.
But a barcode or an “LP” in brackets was often enough to detect the vinyl and wrangle the data into shape.
Kennedy says they examined just over 30 million physical sales in Aotearoa and found just over 29 million were CDs and just over one million was vinyl.
Of that million, more than half of all vinyl sales occured in the last four and a half years.
Topping the charts
The resulting Top 40 Vinyl Artists and Top 40 Vinyl Album charts build a picture of what exactly people are spinning on their turntables in Aotearoa.
Kennedy says the charts tend to favour artists with new music on vinyl or those who have reissued music on vinyl.
With that in mind, it may come as no surprise that the one topping both Top 40 Vinyl charts is Taylor Swift and her 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Taylor Swift’s dominance on the industry is marked: “even if we only count her casette tape sales, she’d still be in the charts,” says Kennedy.
She is joined in the Vinyl Artist top 10 by Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Queen, The Beatles, Harry Styles, Metallica, Ed Sheeran, Rolling Stones and Neil Young.
Following Tortured Poets Department in the vinyl album chart is:
- 2) Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon
- 3) Swift’s Midnights
- 4) Queen’s Greatest Hits
- 5) Swift’s 1989
- 6) Split Enz’s True Colours
- 7) Ed Sheeran’s Divide
- 8) Harry Styles’ Harry House
- 9) Queen’s Greatest Hits II
- 10) Styles’ Fine Line
In the Top 20 Aotearoa Vinyl Artists chart, L.A.B, Lorde, Split Enz, Fat Freddy’s Drop and Marlon Williams make up the top five. Split Enz’s True Colours is ranked the Top Vinyl Album.
Charts tell a story
Ryan says the charts tell an interesting story, with global superstars like Swift sitting alongside heritage acts like Fleetwood Mac.
“I love that so much NZ Music featured too. This says a lot about how vinyl has become a bridge between generations. Younger fans are collecting older records, older fans are embracing new music – genres seem obsolete by many – it’s all about the great music.”
Greive adds he loved seeing how the vinyl charts are disconnected from streaming charts – popularity on vinyl is not the same as popularity more broadly.
“You see the ageing bogans and the teenage girls both shining. But also, given its 22 year span, you also see how sharp the spike has been recently – albums released only weeks ago (hi, Virgin!) making the charts. Most of all, you see that people buy records they love – most of what made the charts are certified classics, regardless of when they were released.”
RMNZ’s weekly Singles and Albums charts are compiled using data from a range of physical and digital retailers, streaming sales and gig sales.
In October 10’s Official Top 40 Albums Chart: first place is of course Swift’s newly released The Life of a Showgirl, but second place is taken out by the KPOP Demon Hunters Soundtrack.
Third, fourth and fifth place go to The Art of Loving by Olivia Dean, Man’s Best Friend By Sabrina Carpenter and +-=÷x (Tour Collection) by Ed Sheeran, respectively.
In the Top 20 Aotearoa Albums the top five includes Six60 – The Six60 Collection, Tami Neilson – Neon Cowgirl, Lorde – Virgin, Joe Kaptein – Pool Sharks and Kaylee Bell – Cowboy Up.
One tricky aspect with the vinyl chart is that some classic albums weren’t issued in vinyl; likewise, some well-known and successful artists have never put anything out on vinyl, says Kennedy.
To have and to hold
In general, data shows a considerable amount of vinyl buyers don’t even have a record player – in the US, it’s between 30 to 40%.
It’s all about having media you can hold as well as the aesthetic pleasure of being able to display it, says Kennedy. He notes a trend called “shelfies”, pictures designed to show off various objects, like books, records and photographs on bookshelves.
“[Vinyl] is not the most convenient or cheapest, but it’s about the artwork, engaging with it… It’s also partly about the demonstration of dedication to an artist.”
He adds that while anyone can stream, it takes a true fan to have the entire catalogue sitting on the shelf: “It’s a public display of affection… No one is looking over your shoulders at your Spotify.”
Vinyl is here to stay
Kennedy says he would like to continue running the vinyl charts: “It is here to stay.”
The vinyl revival has also triggered a resurgence of CDs – partly for that desire for physical media but also partly for those who struggle to afford vinyl.
He believes that over time the vinyl charts will become closer to streaming charts. With vinyl now a component of a modern release, the classic acts will fall away, unless they reissue their music.
However, those with disposable income will continue to influence the chart, buying their nostalgic favourites, Kennedy adds.
