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CD sales surge 45.7 percent in first half of 2026, breaking two-year decline

Confirmed1 source · Sep 5, 2026

Physical media is experiencing renewed demand despite streaming's continued dominance of the market.

CD sales surge 45.7 percent in first half of 2026, breaking two-year decline
Image via The Verge

What happened

CD sales reached 17.5 million units in the first six months of 2026, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a 45.7 percent increase from 12 million units in the same period of 2025, with dollar revenue rising 58.6 percent to $171.1 million. This reversal follows a 22 percent decline from 2024 to 2025. Luminate, a research firm, reported similar numbers of 16.3 million units sold in the same period and attributed much of the increase to special editions from K-pop acts like BTS, with only about half of buyers actually owning a CD player, suggesting collectibility is driving sales. Vinyl also grew nearly 21 percent to 26.5 million units, and other physical media formats surged over 73 percent to 1.6 million units.

Context

The CD sales rebound indicates renewed interest in physical media as collectibles among Gen Z and millennials, even as the market fundamentally remains dominated by streaming: streaming revenue grew 4.7 percent to $4.9 billion in the same period, vastly exceeding all physical media combined. This suggests a bifurcated market where streaming remains the primary consumption method while physical formats serve as supplementary merchandise or collector's items, rather than indicating a wholesale shift away from digital distribution.