Vinyl Records

The vinyl long-playing record was introduced by Columbia Records at a press conference at New York's Waldorf-Astoria on June 21, 1948. Pressed in vinyl rather than the brittle shellac used for 78 rpm discs, the format ran at 33⅓ revolutions per minute and was released in both 10-inch and 12-inch diameters, allowing far more music per side than earlier formats.

RCA Victor answered the following year with a rival format, releasing the first 7-inch, 45 rpm single in February 1949. The two companies' competing speeds led to a period the industry later called the "War of the Speeds." By 1958, 78 rpm shellac discs had stopped being mass-produced in the United States, and vinyl, spinning at either 33⅓ or 45 rpm, had become the standard format for recorded music.

Vinyl readily builds up a static electrical charge, which attracts airborne dust into the grooves. That trapped dust, along with any scratches, is what produces the clicks and pops heard during playback, and grit lodged in the groove can act as an abrasive against the stylus, which is why cleaning protocols emphasize removing dust before a record is played rather than after.

Vinyl's commercial dominance ended abruptly between 1988 and 1991, when compact discs overtook it in sales. But the format did not disappear, and it has since staged a lasting recovery: US vinyl revenue reached $416 million in 2015, its highest level since 1988, and by 2020 vinyl records were once again outselling CDs in the US for the first time since the 1980s.