Music, books, libraries and the ways people enjoy culture today.
Library borrowing is at record levels, but mostly on phones: digital loans through the Libby app passed 820 million in 2025. In-person use has recovered since the pandemic, while in England staff numbers have nearly halved since 2010.
In the streaming era, intros vanished and the average charting song fell to about three minutes. Streaming pays per play, not per minute. Yet the top 10 hits of 2024 were the longest since 2017, a sign the shrinking may have peaked.
In the United States, vinyl records have outsold CDs every year since 2022, and vinyl revenue passed $1 billion in 2025. In the first half of 2026, however, CD sales grew much faster than vinyl, and in the UK the CD still sells more units.
