CD sales increased for the first time in nearly 20 years

Although streaming services are currently the primary carrier of music for its fans from all over the world, there are many indications that physical media is just beginning to find its niche. After many years, vinyl discs are now getting a lot of attention, and “CDs” may soon share their fate.

The latest data collected by the RIAA, the American Music Publishers Association, shows that CD sales increased for the first time in nearly 20 years. In 2021, 46.6 million discs were delivered to customers, while in 2020 it was much less, only 31.6 million CDs. Revenue also grew significantly – it amounted to more than 100 million US dollars compared to the previous year.

Of course, these results are incomparable with the peak of the popularity of CDs, which was at the beginning of the XXI century – at that time, almost a billion CDs found their buyers in just one year.

Combined with the growing popularity of vinyl records, US data shows that sales of physical media with music increased for the first time since 1996. However, this is still only 11% of revenue from US publishers associated with this organization. Paid subscriptions, for example to Spotify, Tidal or Apple Music, make up just over 57% of the stock.