The IFPI's annual recording industry sales report has just been released, and Time reports that it's the best year for the recording industry since music sales fell flat in 2004: sales of physical media dropped by 8.7 percent (compared to 13.8 percent in 2010), while digital music revenue strengthened by 8 percent (compared to 5.6 percent in 2010). Curiously, sales of physical media still remain strong in the digital age, with global vinyl sales more than doubling in the last five years, nearly to highs not seen since the 1990s. The IFPI also estimates that subscriptions services like Spotify and Rdio garnered 13.4 million paying customers worldwide, which, for comparison's sake, is considerably less than the 18 million units of a single album sold by recording artist Adele. But IFPI says that the number of subscribers to music services rose by a hefty 65 percent in 2011, with the presence of major international subscriptions rising from 23 markets in 2010 to 68 in 2011. If that pace keeps up, the recording industry won't be able to use streaming providers as a scapegoat for poor record sales for much longer.