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We live in a world of music. Whether when driving to work or jamming out at home, people around the world like to have their favorite tunes playing in the background.
But while our love for music has been constant, the way we consume media has evolved drastically. The past 50 years have seen many different music formats used to access these tunes, mirroring society’s shift from analog to digital.
This video, created by James Eagle using data from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), highlights sales of different music formats in the U.S. over the last 50 years.
Up until the late 1980s, vinyl dominated the music format industry, earning billions of dollars in sales annually. Records of Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run or Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon were some of the top selling albums available.
Vinyl is said to provide its listeners with analog sounds that reverberate and the warm notes of almost-live music. For vinyl users and enthusiasts to this day, the music produced by these sleek yet massive records is unparalleled.
If you’re a millennial (or younger), you may have never heard of the 8-track. But this music format played an integral part in the history of music.
When the booming automotive vehicle industry found it challenging to translate the music experience to cars using vinyl, it looked to the “Stereo 8” eight-track cartridge, better known as the 8-track. This cartridge used an analog magnetic tape and provided 90 minutes of continuous music play time.
8-track carved a niche for itself much before the advent of cassettes and CDs. And through the proliferation of vehicles, 8-track sales climbed to reach a peak revenue of $900 million in 1978.
The era of cassettes pushed 8-tracks into the history of music in the early 1980s. These pocket-sized tapes were more convenient to use than 8Tracks and quickly spread worldwide.
By 1989, the cassette format reached its peak revenues of $3.7 billion.
First released in 1982, the Compact Disc or CD came into the music market as the successor to the vinyl record.
Developed by Philips and Sony, sales of the sleek and portable CD grew quickly as home and car stereos alike added CD functionality. The format brought in $13.3 billion in revenue in both 1999 and 2000. To date, no other music format has reached the same milestone since.
When it comes to preferred music formats over time, convenience (and cost) seem to have been the biggest catalysts of change.
From the start of the early 2000s, CDs had started to be replaced by other forms of digital storage and distribution. The massive shift to internet consumption and the introduction of digital music, available through downloads, pushed audio CD sales down rapidly.
The launch of streaming platforms like Spotify in 2006 exacerbated this decline, with CD sales dropping by around $4 billion in five years.
Digital sales continued to evolve. Ringtone sales alone brought in $1.1 billion in 2007, and in 2012, the revenues from downloads shot up to a peak of $2.9 billion. But music streaming platforms kept climbing through 2021, and will likely continue to be the future face of music consumption.
Music streaming and subscription services pushed the accessibility of music to new highs, especially with free ad-supported platforms.
In 2021, streaming secured the music industry a whopping $11.5 billion in sales, good for 76% of the total. If it keeps growing in popularity and accessibility, the format could potentially challenge the peak popularity of CDs in the late 90s.
There’s no doubt that digital music formats are getting increasingly popular with every passing year. However, one of our vintage and beloved music formats—the vinyl record—seems to be making a comeback.
According to the RIAA database, the revenue earned by LP/EP sales has shot up to $1.0 billion in 2021, its highest total since the mid-1980s.
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Join us as we look back at some of the most exciting, inspiring, and biggest science stories that made headlines in 2022.
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Scientific discoveries and technological innovation play a vital role in addressing many of the challenges and crises that we face every year.
The last year may have come and gone quickly, but scientists and researchers have worked painstakingly hard to advance our knowledge within a number of disciplines, industries, and projects around the world.
Over the course of 2022, it’s easy to lose track of all the amazing stories in science and technology.
Below we dive a little deeper into some of the most interesting headlines, while providing links in case you want to explore these developments further.
What happened: A new space telescope brings promise of exciting findings and beautiful images from the final frontier. This telescope builds on the legacy of its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, which launched over 30 years ago.
Why it matters: The James Webb Space Telescope is our latest state-of-the-art “window” into deep space. With more access to the infrared spectrum, new images, measurements, and observations of outer space will become available.
» To learn more, read this article from The Planetary Society, or watch this video from the Wall Street Journal.
What happened: Scientists finish sequencing the human genome.
Why it matters: A complete human genome allows researchers to better understand the genetic basis of human traits and diseases. New therapies and treatments are likely to arise from this development.
» To learn more, watch this video by Two Minute Papers, or read this article from NIH
What happened: A higher volume of cases of the monkeypox virus was reported in non-endemic countries.
Why it matters: Trailing in the shadow of a global pandemic, researchers are keeping a closer eye on how diseases spread. The sudden spike of multinational incidences of monkeypox raises questions about disease evolution and prevention.
» To learn more, read this article by the New York Times.
What happened: Gold miners unearth a 35,000 year old, well-preserved baby woolly mammoth in the Yukon tundra.
Why it matters: The mammoth, named Nun cho ga by the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation, is the most complete specimen discovered in North America to date. Each new discovery allows paleontologists to broaden our knowledge of biodiversity and how life changes over time.
» To learn more, read this article from Smithsonian Magazine
What happened: Access to new computer programs, such as DALL-E and Midjourney, give members of the general public the ability to create images from text-prompts.
Why it matters: Widespread access to generative AI tools fuels inspiration—and controversy. Concern for artist rights and copyright violations grow as these programs potentially threaten to diminish creative labor.
» To learn more, read this article by MyModernMet, or watch this video by Cleo Abram.
What happened: Researchers create a perfusion system that can revitalize organs after cellular death. Using a special mixture of blood and nutrients, organs of a dead pig can be sustained after death—and in some cases, even promote cellular repair.
Why it matters: This discovery could potentially lead to a greater shelf-life and supply of organs for transplant.
» To learn more, read this article by Scientific American, or this article from the New York Times
What happened: NASA crashes a spacecraft into an asteroid just to see how much it would move. Dimorphos, a moonlet orbiting a larger asteroid called Didymos 6.8 million miles (11 million km) from Earth, is struck by the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft. NASA estimates that as much as 22 million pounds (10 million kg) was ejected after the impact.
Why it matters: Earth is constantly at risk of being struck by stray asteroids. Developing reliable methods of deflecting near-Earth objects could save us from meeting the same fate as the dinosaurs.
» To learn more, watch this video by Real Engineering, or read this article from Space.com
What happened: A scientific review suggests human sperm counts are decreasing—up to 62% over the past 50 years.
Why it matters: A lower sperm count makes it more difficult to conceive naturally. Concerns about global declining male health also arise because sperm count is a marker for overall health. Researchers look to extraneous stressors that may be affecting this trend, such as diet, environment, or other means.
» To learn more, check out this article from the Guardian.
What happened: Two million-year-old DNA is found in Greenland.
Why it matters: DNA is a record of biodiversity. Apart from showing that a desolate Arctic landscape was once teeming with life, ancient DNA gives hints about our advancement to modern life and how biodiversity evolves over time.
» To learn more, read this article from National Geographic
What happened: The U.S. Department of Energy reports achieving net energy gain for the first time in the development of nuclear fusion.
Why it matters: Fusion is often seen as the Holy Grail of safe clean energy, and this latest milestone brings researchers one step closer to harnessing nuclear fusion to power the world.
» To learn more, view our infographic on fusion, or read this article from BBC
The future of scientific research looks bright. Researchers and scientists are continuing to push the boundaries of what we know and understand about the world around us.
For 2023, some disciplines are likely to continue to dominate headlines:
Where science is going remains to be seen, but this past year instills faith that 2023 will be filled with even more progress.
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