Global Record Shops Per Capita: Looking at the Vinyl Resurgence on a Global Scale

Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, takes a brief look at the vinyl revival’s impact through the lens of global record shop saturation

Last week, new statistics on the quantity of record shops around the world were published by online vinyl catalog Discogs and sister site Vinyl Hub. The community-compiled lists featured in the article distribute the information in various ways, including the amount of shops by country, population and city. And while the information is far from complete, it is a good indicator of the extent of the vinyl revival’s reach.

We already know that vinyl records have been making a major comeback over the past decade. In a report from earlier this year, vinyl records were the only physical music format to increase in sales over the previous year in both the United States and the United Kingdom. New pressing plants have been able to open up around the world because of these increased sales. And it’s not only older adults and hipsters that are purchasing music in physical formats. Forbes reported Monday on a survey conducted by eBay UK which found that more than half of all vinyl purchases made this year were by people in the 18 to 24 age bracket with classic artists such as The Beatles, David Bowie and Pink Floyd among the most purchased artists. The survey also found that 83 percent of that demographic purchased an item of physical media in the last year, higher than the average of all sales demographics. Vinyl has gotten so popular that even big chains like Urban Outfitters and  Barnes & Noble have gotten in on the trend, the latter even hosting their own Vinyl Weekends (probably because they can’t participate in Record Store Day).

When talking about the amount of record shops per country, it comes as no surprise that the US comes in at number one. After all, it is one of the largest countries in the world with one of the largest populations in the world. With 1,482 shops, it has nearly double that of the country in the number two spot, the UK, which has 537 shops. There are only 11 countries that have more than 100 shops, 10 of which are in the western hemisphere (the only exception being Japan).

The statistics become more interesting when you look at how many stores a country has based on population. Breaking the list down to how many shops a country has per 100,000 citizens, the small island country of Palau takes the top slot. They have three record shops for a population of 21,186, an average of 14.1603 stores per 100,000 people. Iceland comes in a far second with eight stores for 335, 631 citizens, or 2.3836 stores per 100,000 people. The only two countries from the original top ten are Sweden (1.2687 shops per 100,000 citizens) and the Netherlands (1.0595 shops per 100,000 citizens).

Discogs has also broken down their statistics to find out which city has the most shops. Tokyo, Japan takes the number one spot on this list with a whopping 93 stores within the confines of the city. Berlin, Germany comes in a close second with 87 shops. The US city with the highest concentration of record shops is New York with a total of 47 stores among the five boroughs, putting it at number six on the list, followed by Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA and Portland, OR at numbers 12, 13 and 14 respectively.

Finally, if you wanted to know where the places with the most record stores within a miles’ radius of each other, their statistics give that information too. The top spot here belongs to Berlin with more than half of their stores (46 of 87) in walking distance of each other with Paris, France close behind at 43 shops clustered together.

Discog’s new statistics on record shops around the world prove that the vinyl resurgence is not just a US and UK phenomenon. Collectors and shops can be found almost everywhere in the world now, from populous countries like the US and Japan to small island nations like Palau. The reach of vinyl has become global and will only spread as its resurgence grows.

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Find vinyl records right here on Long Island at Vinyl Bay 777. As the island’s top new independent record shop, we have thousands of titles to choose from in an array of genres. Browse our wide selection of new and used vinyl, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs and memorabilia in store at our Plainview location or shop online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles being added to our selection all the time, you never know what gems you might find at Vinyl Bay 777.