CD Sales Is Having Resurgence in 2026

[RAMROD 118,186]

According to the RIAA's new report, CDs generated $171.1 million in revenue during the first half of 2026 — up 58.6% from roughly $107.9 million in the first half of 2025 — on 17.5 million units sold, up 45.7% from about 12 million units in the same period last year.

That rebound is all the more interesting because it follows a rough 2025. Last year's full-year report showed CD revenue had actually fallen 7.8% for the full year, from $338.9 million in 2024 to $312.4 million in 2025, while units sold dropped 11.6%, from 33.3 million to 29.5 million.

The RIAA changed how it calculates dollar figures in 2025, switching from estimated retail value to wholesale value. That means the 2024 and 2025 revenue numbers aren't directly comparable. But unit sales, which aren't affected by that change, tell the same fundamental story: 29.5 million CDs sold in 2025, down from 33.3 million in 2024. So CDs were still declining before this year's unexpected rebound.

Vinyl sales continue to grow, too. In fact, so-called physical media revenue in the first half of 2026 jumped 25.9% to $731.5 million, driven ⁠not only by the 58.6% increase in CD revenue but also by a 17.7% increase in vinyl revenue.

 

Sources:

https://finance.yahoo.com/media-advertising/articles/cd-sales-making-unexpected-comeback-150000977.html

https://www.riaa.com/news/riaa-reports-6-billion-in-mid-year-recorded-music-revenue-with-growth-across-every-major-category/

[Controversiaga 17,336]

CDs always gone be that btch for me.  Vinyls and record players are too big and archaic . 

[gagzus 25,933]

I’m glad because physical media is king, I’ve noticed people are fed up with algorithms forcing music (looking at you Choosin Texas) on people thanks to payola.

Fun fact; did you guys know that textless album covers are predominantly a thing now because of the previous decline in CD sales in the mid 2010s. Because on Spotify/Apple Music/Streaming you already know who the album is by and what it’s called because it tells you under the album art or before you click on the album to see the full size art — where as CDs needed to tell you who’s album it was when you saw it without context. 

 

Edited September 6 by gagzus

[IllusionLover 7,902]

54 minutes ago, Controversiaga said:

CDs always gone be that btch for me.  Vinyls and record players are too big and archaic . 

Too expensive, too big, you have to flip it, and the Vinyl resurgence it's killing CD production, just take a look at MAYHEM, Raye's album, Midnight Sun, etc the vinyls are gorgeous well designed and paid dust to the CDs, I hate when they come without a lyrics booklet or it's just a poster when the vinyl has even a full sized booklet. I hope this brings back those thick booklets with lyrics and the whole photoshoot

[TheARTPOPball 1,737]

We can’t afford the vinyls anymore 😂

well we can but like why. 

[EART HL I NG 1,614]

And now the price of a CD is going to jump 300% for no fckn reason

Edited September 6 by EART HL I NG

[nATAH 58,551]

well the reason i opted to collect CDs is cus they are cheaper, i can easily digitize them and put them on my phone and they take up less space

but now i collect decorative vinyls, mainly picture discs or Bad World editions

i have almost 600 CDs now

[Cherry Blues 622]

Also CDs have a better sound quality than Vinyls, both mediums have + and -

Especially for electronic music CDs are the non-plus-ultra. 

[TaylorSwift 164,263]

this was top 10 CD in Luminate Midyear Report 2026

[StrawberryBlond 15,717]

Probably boosted entirely by Swiftie sales. But still, I'm happy about that because it means we stand a bigger chance of physical media sticking around as I feared that we were heading scarily towards a completely digitised music age which I'm not a fan of. Nothing replaces that feeling of owning a physical copy of music that no one can take away from you. 

On 9/6/2026 at 2:34 AM, Controversiaga said:

CDs always gone be that btch for me.  Vinyls and record players are too big and archaic . 

Totally. Most people who buy vinyl don't even have record players, they just want them to look good on a vinyl wall and because it's cool to say you buy vinyl. They'd be as well saving money and just printing out and framing the covers. I'm not paying crazy money just to have them be completely decorative. I'm also wondering if they're so much more improved in terms of audio quality or if that's just clever marketing because I think CDs sound awesome. You also have to look after vinyl very carefully, not exposing them to sunlight and making sure they're not stacked on top of each other. Most notably, a vinyl degrades slightly with every play so it will wear out eventually. But CDs, provided you take good care of them, will last forever. I know which one is the better investment.