Vinyl records are having a moment. They have been having a moment, with sales up 1,671.8% from 2010. Despite their popularity, vinyl fans have been encountering a problem: records are insanely expensive now.

Walking into my local record store, most vinyls were priced around the $25-$30 range. This included widely available albums such as The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift, BRAT by Charli XCX, and WE DON’T TRUST YOU by Future and Metro Boomin. Most of the others were $30+, with albums such as Flower Boy by Tyler, the Creator, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West, and To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar reaching over $40.

Lower Dauphin students agree that vinyls are becoming overpriced. “I’ve looked into them because I love the idea of a tangible music collection but I can’t justify the price” Says senior Dylan Kreiss. Senior Daphne Linn agrees. “Personally I love them, but I only buy them if I really know the album and then I don’t think it’s always worth it, since I hesitate to actually play them when they cost that much” She said.

So, why do vinyls cost so much? Well, you can pretty much chalk it up to one thing: demand. Since so many people want to get their hands on them, companies have been able to raise their prices and take advantage of the popularity.

It is unclear if record prices will fall in the future, but it seems unlikely, due to inflation and consistent demand.