2021 and 2022 in numbers
The time has once again come to look back at what was and forward to what will (hopefully) be. 2021 was a year of more COVID-19 and combined with a series of shortages made for a perfect storm of delays and pushbacks for many of the releases we were looking forward to (I made a post on reddit summing up many of the factors behind these delays that you can read here).
Did all this stop 2021 from being another record year for VGM vinyl? Nope. 222 new releases (this number is possibly a bit inflated due to me including titles that were released separately and as part of a box set – such as the Final Fantasy XIV releases). Last year that number sat at 176, so that’s a pretty big jump for a year with as many delays as 2021!
As per usual there are no signs of things slowing down as I’ve noted 189 upcoming titles set for 2022 (and some even later) on my list of upcoming releases. At one point this year it was even above 200, but a series of titles shipping late this year took it below that threshold. Last year this number was at 146 again pointing towards a continuous increase in VGM vinyl releases.
The labels
For the second year in a row Laced Records was the most productive label in terms of titles coming out with 17 new releases. With 12 announced titles for 2022 there’s no sign of them slowing down either.
Ship To Shore PhonoCo. put more titles out than ever before with 14 new releases. They also have 7 releases announced so 2022 won’t be slowing down either.
Same goes for Black Screen Records who also got 14 new releases out. They’ve only announced 4 upcoming releases, but I’m sure they’ve got even more planned.
Respawned had an efficient second year as a label with 12 new releases and with another 4 announced we’ll have more to look forward to.
Limited Run Games have gone all in on vinyl as well and have also put out 11 titles with 11 titles also announced for 2022.
iam8bit was productive as always, but did have a bit fewer titles coming out with “just” 10 releases in 2021. Several were pushed for 2022, though, and they have 15 announced titles coming.
Brave Wave suffered through several delays, but still managed to get out 7 new titles with an additional 6 planned for 2022 (although all of which were pushed from their original 2021 dates).
As always there have been many more active labels out there and it’s lovely to see such a variety of releases among all of you guys! Once again we’ve also got a handful of new labels such as Mana Wave, Very Ok Vinyl and Mango Mage and it’s going to be exciting to see what they have planned in the new year.
Blip Blop in numbers
This is the sixth consecutive year I’ve been doing Blip Blop and unlike 2020 there weren’t any major celebrations or big events – just a ton of new releases to keep track of.
Last year I’d just made the 600th news post on the site and right now we’re over 800, which means that there’s roughly been 200 new announcements in 2021, which means there’s been almost four new announcements per week. It’s no wonder I never have any money.
The number of releases listed on the site has gone from 1746 to 2027 and it’s worth noting that I’m aware of several missing releases although mostly newer repressings and color variants that’s been harder and harder to keep track of, but I’ll try to add new ones to the extent possible.
As for you guys – the users on the site – there’s been a large increase in visitors over the past year with 49.257 unique visitors to the site. You’re roughly visiting from the usual places with 50% of users being based in the US, 10% in the UK, 6% from Canada and just under 4% each for France and Germany.
As is tradition at this point I joined the guys from Video Game Grooves for a Best of 2021 podcast episode, which you can find here. We looked at our personal favorite releases of 2021 and announced what you guys had voted as your top 5 favorites.
Back in 2020 I predicted that 2021 would be a wild year for VGM vinyl and I was indeed right. Considering that 2021 in many aspects have been a weird and not always easy year, VGM vinyl releases have been coming out left and right and there’s still no sign of things slowing down just yet. Although it remains to be seen if the delays will continue into the new year and slow it down maybe just a little bit.
As for myself you can probably expect a bit more quiet from me in the early parts of the new year. I will try to get new announcements out in a timely manner, but I have some personal matters that will require most of my attention in the beginning of the year.
You’ve now reached the end of this long rambling of mine! Thank you for reading it and thank you for being awesome and checking out Blip Blop! Happy new year and here’s to a great 2022!