A decade ago, the music industry saw a strange trend—a revival of millennials buying old-school vinyl records. In 2021, the format’s popularity surged in the US, selling 41.7 million units, up from 21.5 million in 2020. LPs outsold CDs for the first time in 30 years, as well as digital albums.

A Wall Street Journal article notes:

The spike has been driven, in part, by younger listeners nostalgic for an era when music—and maybe life in general—seemed more hands-on and fun. … Stressed out by fears of climate change, political strife and pandemic variants, a growing number of younger adults have been spending more time nesting and seeking refuge in their past. Many have fond childhood memories of parents playing vinyl albums in the 1980s and early 1990s, and they yearn to regain that feeling of security.

A clinical psychologist quoted in the article added, “For millennials who favor vinyl albums, the format may offer them control and stability. You can hold the vinyl, you’re responsible for making the music play, and perhaps it’s reminiscent of a more certain time in their lives. With vinyl, there are no decisions to make. You put on the record, you sit back and you listen.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

In stressful times like these we’re all looking for ways to “regain that feeling of security.”