As vinyl record sales soar, Chicago emerges as a top market

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Chicago is emerging as one of the biggest markets for vinyl records in the U.S.

The city has upward of 30 stores selling vinyl albums. Three of them, Dusty Groove, Dave's Records and Laurie's Planet of Sound, are ranked among the best in the U.S. by Rolling Stone magazine.

"Chicago is a great independent record base," said David Bakula, analyst for Nielsen Entertainment. "Record shopping is such a different experience here. Dedication to local merchants is very evident in Chicago," he said.

Vinyl record sales might hit a new record this year.

As of mid-June, some 3.7 million vinyl albums had been sold, a 40 percent increase over the same period last year, according to Nielsen data.

Jack White's new album sold 40,000 copies on vinyl in the first week of June, the most for any record on vinyl since 1991.

"Young people are driving growth in sales," said John Arnsdorff, who in March opened a store called Audio Archaeology in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood that sells new and used vinyl records and record players. "They like the sound better.''

The comeback of vinyl.