The drinks are poured, the nibbles are out and the guests are gathered, but nothing gets a party started quite like playing a vintage record. From the moment the turntable starts to spin and the needle first touches the disc, the ambience of the room instantly changes. Leafing through the sleeves to find an old favourite or a new discovery – the perfect track to suit the mood or moment – is one of life’s simple pleasures.
‘Playing vinyl is immersive,’ says Martin Hughes, a collector of vintage vinyl and director at Wessex Auction Rooms, which holds regular vinyl sales. ‘Choosing a record, the anticipation of the music as you take the record out and set it playing, then enjoying music with friends – it’s a real event. It’s a completely different, more authentic, personal experience than simply streaming music from your
phone to a Bluetooth speaker.’
Martin points out that digital downloads are often lower quality, too. ‘Lustless audio files can’t compete with original vinyl in terms of sound,’ he argues. Paul Smith, collector and dealer at Vinyl Collectors and Sellers, agrees: ‘If you’re playing vinyl on a good bit of equipment and it’s a well-looked-after record, it knocks the socks off any other format sound-wise, because there’s no digital manipulation. The music is exactly the same as it was when it left the studio and the artist signed it off.’
This appreciation for authenticity means the vinyl revival is in full swing. And it’s not just sales of vintage LPs that are rising – consumers are buying new records, too. In 2023, digital music streaming generated £962.1m of revenue in the UK, mostly via paid subscription services such as Apple and Spotify. While digital downloads dominate the market, it’s worth noting that vinyl sales brought in an impressive £141.6m of revenue – nearly 12 times the amount the format made in 2013.
‘There is a new wave of young collectors and vinyl fans coming through,’ says Steve Taylor, owner of Sell Vinyl Records, who first became interested in vinyl as a teenager in the 1990s. ‘My 16-year-old son’s friends are buying Taylor Swift albums on vinyl, but most don’t have record players – they just want to collect and own them.’
In 2021, Taylor Swift sold 102,000 copies of her album Evermore on vinyl in one week. Her album The Tortured Poets Department is the best-selling vinyl album of 2024 so far. Meanwhile, Definitely Maybe by Oasis has sold 38,000 vinyl copies this year to date, bolstered by the long-awaited news that the band will be touring next year.
‘Things became so simplified with digital downloads. Younger people never had the experience of physical music and, once they do, they realise it’s quite cool,’ explains Martin. ‘People still like to hold something in their hands,’ adds Paul. ‘Similarly, bookshops have survived, despite the Kindle. The digital realm is soulless – people don’t want to end up in a world of nothingness.’
Vintage vinyl is more collectable today than ever before, with enthusiasts scouring auctions, record fairs and online shops for LPs to add to their collections. Prices for vintage vinyl records vary hugely and value largely depends on rarity, as opposed to age.
‘Vintage vinyl records start at about £1 in a record fair for a Cliff Richard album or something,’ says Steve. ‘Most records sell for between £10 and £35. But rare, highly sought-after records can go for £20,000, and there are a few rarer albums that fetch vast sums.’
Prices for vintage vinyl records vary, and value largely depends on rarity, as opposed to age
‘I recently sold a first pressing of The Beatles’ album Please Please Me from 1953 to a collector for £5,000,’ says Paul. ‘Ringo Starr’s copy of The White Album is officially the most expensive LP ever sold
at auction.’ Ringo’s first-edition copy (with the catalogue number 0000001) had been kept in perfect condition by Starr for more than 35 years and fetched $790,000 (£607,000) at auction in California in 2015.
However, the sheer volume of Beatles records in the world means that finding one that’s worth much is unlikely. Artist signatures cause values to sky-rocket, but there are thought to be less than 100 signed copies of Beatles albums in circulation. In October 2024, Anderson & Garland sold a fully autographed copy of The Beatles’ 1965 album Help!, signed by Paul, John, Ringo and George for £10,000.
A letter from the original owner reads: ‘This Beatles record cover Help! was signed for myself in 1965 by all four members of the group, when they all returned to Liverpool, of that year. Their close friend and also one of mine, Paddy Delaine (once doorman of The Cavern Club in Liverpool’s Mathew St)… took me to obtain their signature in the Liverpool Hotel Adelphi. I was very shy in asking George for his signature, as he was in deep conversation with someone but, as he put pen to cover, he completed one of my dreams at the time, which was [to obtain] The Beatles’ autographs.’
When Covid-19 hit, Steve Taylor’s sales went through the roof. ‘There were a lot of furloughed, middle-aged people sitting around at home with spare time and money, and they bought stacks of vinyl online,’ he recalls. There was another busy time shortly after the pandemic. ‘A year after the lockdowns, the same people all went back to work and realised that they had no time to play their vinyl, so they sold it!’
As with most collecting areas, knowledge is key. ‘I’m always on the lookout for the obscure – the weird 1970s folk albums,’ says Martin. ‘It breaks my heart when somebody tells me they’ve bought an original pressing of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours for £20 – thinking that it’s a bargain,’ he adds. ‘It’s one of the 20th biggest-selling albums of all time and is actually worth about 10p.’
Even though the 1990s doesn’t feel that long ago, the hottest vinyl today is from that era, because CDs had taken over and hardly anybody bought vinyl then, so it’s incredibly rare. ‘Records from 1992 to the mid 2000s are worth a lot,’ says Martin. ‘Britpop is particularly scarce and highly sought after: records by the likes of Blur, Suede, Radiohead and Oasis. An Oasis first or second album, original pressing, will always be worth at least £100.’
Martin says that records by American grunge bands such as Nirvana, Alice in Chains and
Pearl Jam are highly desirable today for the same reason, as are punk records. ‘While culturally significant, punk was still a real niche, so punk records are around in much smaller numbers today,’ he explains.
‘Even bands like the Sex Pistols didn’t sell records in vast numbers and, by the nature of that genre, people weren’t looking after their records either, so to find punk records in good condition is rare. They can be worth a lot of money – especially 7-inch singles, or self-released records that were just released in small batches of 100. A shelf of 7-inch punk singles could easily be worth half a million pounds today.’
Classical records, on the other hand, are not popular with collectors. ‘If I buy a collection of 1,000 classical records, 997 will probably go straight to the tip and around three of them might be rare stereo recordings and sell for £1,000 each,’ says Martin.
‘People want 1950s and early 1960s stereo recordings, regardless of the composer. At that time, most recordings were mono and the only people who had stereo systems were either very wealthy or worked for a record company, so mid-century stereo records are incredibly scarce.’
It’s not just the records themselves that appeal to collectors – it’s the artwork, the lyrics, the track listings and the information inside the sleeve. ‘Sometimes a record has an insert – it might be a poster, a postcard or a lyrics sheet – which can be worth almost more than the record itself,’ explains Steve Taylor.
‘A shelf of 7-inch punk singles could easily be worth half a million pounds today’
‘I currently have a record in stock by The Who – the first 1,000 came with a big psychedelic poster. I can sell the record on its own for around £100 but, with the poster too, the price goes up to £600. Inserts were often stuck on bedroom walls by teenagers and then lost or destroyed, so they’re rare today, especially if they are in good condition.’
Both collectors and dealers agree that the future of vinyl looks bright. ‘Vinyl was overtaken by cassettes, then CDs, then digital downloads,’ says Martin. ‘We wanted convenience. But when artists started to release vinyl again, it brought attention to the album format – the idea of having 12 tracks together, in a specific order. When you have a record in your hand and can listen to it from start to finish, one side at a time, exactly as the artist intended, while viewing the artwork and reading the lyrics – it’s a real moment.’
Caring for vinyl
• ‘Vinyl needs to be kept dry – I store mine in lidded plastic boxes, along with anti-damp sachets,’ says Steve Taylor. ‘They need to be stored upright, not flat on top of each other, or the records can warp.’
• ‘The record player you use is important,’ points out Paul Smith. ‘One with a diamond stylus is crucial, and a weighted arm. If you have a ruby or sapphire stylus and an arm that’s not weighted, too much downward force can be applied and the record grooves can be worn down and it can even skip or jump. Players start at around £200 and go up to £1,000 in our shop. Vintage record players – like Dansette ones – are still sought after. You can stack eight singles on one and they play one after the other.’
• Scratches, grit and dust on records can cause audio clicks and pops. The needle can skip over a series of grooves or even cause the needle to skip backward, creating a locked groove that repeats over and over. ‘If there are proper scratches or marks, there’s not much you can do,’ says Steve. ‘Cheaper records just get a quick wipe over, but I have an expensive cleaning machine for the rarer and more valuable records. It ultrasonically cleans them in six minutes, firing tiny bubbles of water at the surface to remove any grit from the grooves. They sound much better afterwards.’
Vinyl through the ages
We chart the history of the iconic format
• 1877 Thomas Edison invented the first phonograph.
• The late 1880s Emile Berliner created commercially sold disc records to be played on his ‘gramophone’ player which he patented in 1887.
• 1903 His Master’s Voice (HMV) in England made the first complete recording of an opera, Verdi’s Ernani, on 40 single-sided discs.
• 1948 The LP (Long Play) format was introduced and recordings could be longer in length. The majority of vintage vinyl that is bought and sold today is in the LP format – 12-inch size albums with 45 minutes of playing time in total.
• 1960s-70s Record players became very popular – the golden era for vinyl.
• 1982 The CD was introduced.
• 1988 Sales of CDs overtook vinyl records for the first time. This trend continued throughout the 1990s.
• The late 2000s A resurgence of record buying, both new and vintage, fuelled mainly by rock fans.
• 2020 Sales of records beat sales of CDs for the first time since the 1980s.
• 2021 Taylor Swift sold 102,000 copies of her 2020 album Evermore on vinyl in one week.
• 2023 According to BPI analysis based on Official Charts data, vinyl LP sales in the UK increased by 11.7 per cent in the first 51 weeks of 2023 to 5.9 million units – the highest annual level since 1990.
Where to buy
Anderson & Garland The auctioneers have quarterly vinyl sales andersonandgarland.com
VIP Record Fairs vip-24.com
Vinyl Collectors and Sellers Cross Keys Arcade, Unit 11, Salisbury SP1 1EY
Sell Vinyl Records sellvinylrecords.co.uk
Vinyl Collectors and Sellers vinylcollectorsandsellers.wordpress.com
Wessex Auction Rooms wessexauctionrooms.co.uk
