Vinyl Records Stage a Comeback — ZEN Editorial Maps Japan's Resilient Physical Market and a Global V-Shaped Recovery

The market for vinyl records is gaining presence worldwide. In Japan, 2024 production rose from the prior year, and global physical sales turned to recovery as well. The ZEN editorial team maps this physical-format revival amid the dominance of streaming.

Japan's analog disc production reached about 3.149 million units in 2024, up roughly 17% year on year, with production value up about 26% to the 7.8 billion yen range — the first time it topped 7 billion yen since 1989. Globally, physical sales recovered to an 8% gain, with vinyl's growth standing out in particular.

Japan is one of the world's largest physical markets, and its resilience is cited as one factor underpinning the global physical recovery. In Japan's 2025 music market, physical reached around 250.7 billion yen, about 39% of the total, functioning as a pillar alongside streaming.

Behind the vinyl revival are several overlapping factors: artists releasing new titles on record, reissues of past classics, the ownership value of large jackets, and the spread of relatively affordable turntables. In production practice, physical projects running alongside streaming connect to fan touchpoints and a more diversified revenue structure.

Physical is being re-evaluated not as mere nostalgia but as a revenue source driven by limited editions and collector demand. A division of roles — streaming carrying exposure, physical carrying ownership experience and revenue — is gradually taking hold.

The ZEN editorial team sees value in treating streaming and physical as complementary rather than opposing. For creators at ZEN CREATIVE LAB, how to fold physical into a release plan is worth considering on both revenue and fan-experience fronts.

Sources: RIAJ, IFPI, nippon.com, and others.