This Day in Music
December 31st
Vinyl takes a wide lead in commercial sales, it’s the end of Radio Luxembourg, and The King sets records, all on this day in music.
Vinyl
2017: According to Nielsen Music, sales of vinyl records increased 9% over the previous year, reaching 14.31 million units. The increasing trend in vinyl sales began in 2014 when growth was 52% over the prior year, at 9.2 million units. By 2021, vinyl records would outsell CD’s for the first time since the mid-80’s, when CD’s were new technology.
In the first half of 2025, vinyl outsold CD’s by a wide margin: $232.1 million vs. $129.1 million in the U.S. alone.
It might be surprising that vinyl is poised to be the champion of physical music media, given its near-obsolescence within ten years of the introduction of CD’s in 1982, and it being the original mass media format. Records were introduced to the market around 1898 in the form of 10” 78rpm shellac discs that held about three-to-four minutes of music each side, with Columbia Records introducing the 12” 33 1/3rpm “long play” discs in 1948 that could hold up to 23 minutes per side.
One possible explanation is that the experience of listening to vinyl, i.e. appreciating the album cover art, reading the liner notes, carefully placing the disc on a turntable, is better than CD’s, and more importantly, CD’s are no longer necessary to enjoy finely-mastered digital music.
Events
2005: Classic Welsh crooner Tom Jones is made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), dubbed Sir Thomas in a ceremony with Queen Elizabeth II.
1991: After broadcasting for 62 years, Europe’s oldest commercial radio station, Radio Luxembourg, signs off the air permanently.
1957: Alan Freed’s New Year’s Eve revue takes place at the Paramount Theatre on upper Broadway in the Washington Heights district of Manhattan. On the bill are Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Fats insisted that he be the closing act. Lewis whipped the crowd into such a frenzy with his dynamic performance, that Fats could not compete. It was the last time he insisted on following “The Killer.”
1966: “I’m a Believer,” a song by Neil Diamond recorded by The Monkees, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for seven weeks. The record was certified Gold only two days after its release.
1967: Sonny and Cher are disinvited from the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, after speaking out in support of 2,000 teenagers who protested the Los Angeles County Sheriffs year-long campaign to clear the Sunset Strip of loiterers. The kids were labelled the Sunset Strip Rioters and confronted by policemen in riot helmets and shields.
The Daily Elvis
1975: Appearing at the Silverdome just outside of Detroit in Pontiac, MI, Elvis sets a personal record for his largest audience at approximately 61,000 attendees. It was also the largest-grossing concert for a solo artist at the time, with a gate of about $800,000. Presley famously ripped his “rainfall” jumpsuit while performing “Polk Salad Annie” and had to take a moment to put on his “v-neck” jumpsuit instead. The King was never short jumpsuits.
Pictured: Elvis performing his New Year’s Eve show at the Pontiac Silverdome in his v-neck jumpsuit, with Ronnie Tutt on drums in background.
