First things first: what is a single? Besides the 12” variant, there are a few other sizes. There’s the 10”, the 7”, and even a 4” record. For now, let’s set aside the 10” and 4”, because today we’re talking about the 7”, commonly known as a single, a seven, or a forty-five.
A smaller piece of vinyl, about 18 cm in diameter, often with a large hole in the middle. A beautiful, clear, and compact format. Popular among DJs, jukebox enthusiasts—heck, some people almost turn it into a religion. But why?
For this, we have to go all the way back to 1949, the year RCA Victor introduced the 7”/45 RPM single to the market. In the late 1940s, there was a competition between RCA and Columbia in the search for an answer to the then market-dominating bakelite record (10", 78 RPM). Apart from its inferior quality, if you dropped a piece of bakelite, about 100 pieces of the record would fly across the room.
Columbia released the 12” 33⅓ RPM, while RCA introduced the 7”, which, instead of the usual small hole, suddenly had a more donut-like hole. Originally a marketing trick: this way, the singles would only fit on the new record changer (which could hold a stack) of the same brand.
Later, the hole stayed because it turned out to be an effective design for the emerging jukeboxes.
That big hole has its charm. First, you need to place a special puck, dinkey, spin, center, or, more commonly, a single adapter, to then watch that small piece of vinyl spin beautifully at high speed.
Because the single spins faster, the needle reads more per second. This allows for more musical details to fit into the grooves. Additionally, the dynamic range is wider, making it sound louder and sometimes a bit deeper.
With singles, the B-side is often a track that didn’t appear on the album. An outtake, a live version, a dub, an instrumental—sometimes this bonus was even the reason to buy the record.
People used to organize special evenings to take turns playing their favorite singles, preferably brought along in a special case. Long story short: besides the quality, it’s simply the most cozy format!
One last advantage is that vinyl DJs can move around without fearing a hernia.
You get it—it’s time to dive into our beautiful collection of 7” records.
