A gramophone record (also known as phonograph record, or simply record) is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc. When made of polyvinyl chloride they are also known as lp vinyl records.
Gramophone records were the primary medium used for commercial music reproduction for most of the 20th century. They replaced the phonograph cylinder as the most popular recording medium in the 1900s, and although they were supplanted in popularity in the late 1980s by digital media, leaving mainstream by 1991, they continue to be manufactured and sold as of 2009, still used by DJs and audiophilesfor certain types of music, especially electronic dance music, hip hop, punk rock, and heavy metal music.