Inflation Basket: Vinyl Records Make A Comeback!
For the first time since 1992, Vinyl Records have returned to the inflation basket thanks to a “resurgence of popularity” and Taylor Swift fans.
The last time Vinyl records were in the inflation basket was when Simply Red’s album Stars topped the charts over 30 years ago. A recent rise in sales has made them a marker of shopping habits in the UK once again.
Taylor Swift and her army of devoted fans are very much responsible for this shift. Swift’s highly-anticipated re-recording 1989 (Taylor’s version) was the biggest-selling vinyl record in the UK last year. A personal win for Swift who had every intention of challenging the status quo, record sales and artists’ rights to their own music.
The highest-selling vinyl record by a British artist was the Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds. Vinyl records are very much back in fashion!
Credit: Richard Young/Shutterstock
What’s ‘in’ and what’s ‘out’ of this year’s inflation basket?
In the spirit of Swift, it’s very much a new “era” for the inflation basket!
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) curate the basket every year. Items have come to represent changes in British culture and the ONS tracks prices of these items to monitor inflation. A total of 16 items have been added to the basket, while 15 were removed this year.
Air fryers were the most interesting addition – anyone who has an air fryer knows popularity has risen thanks to their energy efficiency and cost-cutting cooking.
This trend of health conscious living is also reflected in the addition of spray oils, rice cakes, and sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
With the on-going cost of living crisis, strict household budgets affected what went into the basket this year. However, as we move on from the unusual spending habits of the pandemic years, many Covid related items have left the basket.
With less demand for hand sanitiser gel these day. It’s no longer front and centre of shop shelves anymore nor is it leaking all over our handbags, so it’s no longer in the ONS basket.
Most people took up baking during lockdown, and now most people have banana bread tins gathering dust at the back of a cupboard somewhere. Times have really changed, so bakeware has also been ditched as the ONS consider it an over-represented household item.
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Hannah McLaren
I've worked at DC Thomson for six years! I began as an intern at My Weekly and The Scots Magazine, which was extended by a few months to help out at The People's Friend. I then covered maternity as Celebrity Editor for My Weekly, before I became Multimedia Journalist at The Scots Magazine. Currently I'm writing digital content across each title.
