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Ready to Level Up Your Vinyl Collection? Download the Ultimate Guide!
Vinyl records have entered the era of data-driven collecting.
For decades, serious collectors in markets like coins, comics, and trading cards have relied on population reports to track the true scarcity of graded, investment-grade items. These reports are essential for understanding market supply, validating rarity, and making informed, strategic purchases.
Until now, vinyl record collectors have lacked this kind of verified market transparency.
Today, VMG (Vintage Media Grading) introduces the VMG Population Report — the first comprehensive population database for professionally graded vinyl records.
Vinyl collecting has evolved into a serious alternative asset class. For high-end collectors and investors, knowing how many top-grade copies exist is just as important as knowing current market prices.
Key questions every serious collector asks:
The VMG Population Report delivers these answers — for the first time in vinyl collecting history.
With real-time data, verified grading counts, and complete grade distribution, the Population Report gives collectors:
For most collectors, Discogs remains an indispensable research tool. Its database and marketplace offer powerful ways to analyze raw (ungraded) vinyl inventory. Let’s break down the most valuable tools Discogs offers:
The Have/Want ratio or what we call the Discogs Demand Ratio (DDR) provides immediate market signals:
A low (<1.0) Have/Want ratio signals titles or variants with strong demand relative to supply — an important early indicator of potential scarcity.
(Have)/(Want) = DDR
Discogs delivers actual historical sales data — letting collectors track:
This provides valuable insights into how raw, ungraded copies have performed, but doesn’t capture scarcity at the top investment-grade level.
Discogs allows you to instantly see how many raw copies are currently for sale in the marketplace. You can study:
One of Discogs’ most powerful features is its extremely detailed variant database. Collectors can drill into:
This level of specificity allows collectors to target exact pressings with far more granularity than broader platforms like eBay or Popsike.
While Discogs provides excellent tools for analyzing raw inventory and market demand, it doesn’t answer the most critical question for high-end collecting:
How many authenticated, investment-grade copies actually exist?
That’s where the VMG Population Report delivers unmatched transparency.
Example:
You’re researching a sealed first pressing of Fleetwood Mac – Rumours. Discogs shows strong demand: low DDR, steady raw sales history, several copies listed for sale. You can even drill into exact pressing variants.
But now you check the VMG Population Report:
This level of population data transforms your market understanding.
Even if raw copies exist in decent supply, true high-grade population may be extremely limited — significantly affecting long-term value and investment potential.
But how collectible is that title that you’re considering to have slabbed? VMG has built a tool for you!
Estimate the collectible tier of your record using grading, market, and demand metrics.
Note: VMG grading data is emerging, as our census is still growing. Grading influence increases as more titles are professionally slabbed.
While Discogs and the VMG Population Report offer valuable insights independently, serious collectors need a way to connect those dots into one clear picture of value. That’s why we built the VMG Collectibility Score Calculator.
This tool combines real-world Discogs data with VMG’s verified grading data to deliver a single, easy-to-understand collectibility score for any vinyl release — helping you decide what’s truly worth grading, collecting, or holding long-term.
Discogs shows:
The VMG Population Report shows:
The Collectibility Score Calculator blends those two worlds and provides a 0–100 score to reflect true rarity, demand, and high-grade scarcity with a click of a button.
You’ll enter five inputs:
Click “Calculate Collectibility Score”, and you’ll get a rating between 0 and 100.
Note: The VMG Collectibility Calculator is designed to provide collectors with a directional view of how collectible one title may be over another—based on the best data currently available. While the VMG Population Report is growing rapidly, it remains in an early stage. As more records are graded and added to the report, the calculator’s output will naturally evolve to reflect a more complete picture. One current limitation is variant-level specificity; at present, the population report tracks by artist and album title. However, we’re actively working on an upgrade that will account for individual pressings and variants—a change that will further refine the accuracy and power of the calculator. Even in its current form, these tools provide a major advantage for collectors looking to build a high-grade, high-desirability collection with long-term value in mind.
As graded vinyl continues to attract investors and collectors globally, its characteristics mirror other high-performing alternative asset classes:
Population data is foundational to market confidence in these asset classes.
The VMG Population Report establishes this same structure for the vinyl record market — delivering certified data to inform smarter buying, selling, and collecting decisions.
The VMG Population Report is now live at https://vmgvinyl.com/vmg-grading-rubric/population-report/.
Whether you’re:
…the VMG Population Report delivers verified, real-time data that transforms your collecting strategy.
Because true value isn’t just about price — it’s about verified scarcity.
VMG — Setting the Standard for Data-Driven Vinyl Record Collecting.
Ready to take your collecting to the next level?
Explore the VMG Population Report, submit your records for professional grading, and protect your investments with our ultrasonic cleaning subscription.
Collect smarter. Invest with confidence.
Unlock exclusive insights from Collecting Vinyl Records 101—your ultimate guide to mastering the art of vinyl collecting. Download now to discover expert tips, learn VMG’s grading secrets, and preserve your records for a lifetime. Don’t miss this all-access guide!
3 Responses
When is the population report database updated? I have some Counting Crows records that haven’t made it on there yet
Hi Dalton, the pop report is usually updated every few weeks, if you don’t see your albums yet, you will shortly. Thank you!
Collecting records as an investment is a bad idea for 99.8% of the population. Kinda like 32 year olds betting on sports…99% of them have NO idea what they are doing and will lose most of the time.