Growth in CD sales outpaces vinyl in the US for the first half of 2026

CD sales have surged by 16 per cent in the US during the first half of 2026, significantly outpacing the growth of vinyl.

The new figures were revealed in entertainment data company Luminate’s 2026 Midyear Report, which found that 16.3million CDs were sold across the country between January and the end of June.

By comparison, vinyl sales grew by a more modest 2.4 per cent year-on-year. However, records remain the more popular of the two formats in terms of units, with 21.8million vinyl albums sold during the same period. Around 205,000 cassettes were also purchased.

Combined sales of CDs, records and cassettes increased by 7.8 per cent to approximately 38.2million units during the first half of the year.

Luminate attributed much of the rapid increase in CD sales to “collection building” and “price accessibility”, as well as a strong schedule of K-pop releases and the arrival of BTS’ hugely successful comeback album ‘ARIRANG’.

The album sold 516,000 physical copies in the US during its opening week, including 208,000 vinyl copies – the biggest weekly vinyl sales total for a group since Luminate began electronically tracking purchases in 1991.

K-pop albums are often sold in multiple versions with exclusive photocards, posters, books and other items, encouraging fans to build collections and purchase several copies of the same record.

However, the increase was not solely driven by BTS or the wider K-pop market. When all K-pop sales were removed from the data, US CD purchases were still up by 6.7 per cent compared with the first half of 2025.

The findings suggest that younger fans are increasingly treating CDs as affordable merchandise and collectable objects rather than simply a way of listening to music.

Approximately half of the Gen Z and millennial consumers buying CDs do not own a CD player, according to the report.

The physical resurgence is taking place alongside continued streaming growth rather than replacing digital listening. US on-demand audio streams rose by 4.8 per cent to 732.7billion during the opening half of the year, while global streams increased by 9.8 per cent to 2.8trillion.

Earlier this year, Harry Styles’ ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally’ was revealed as the UK’s biggest-selling vinyl album of 2026 so far, shifting 69,000 copies by mid-April.

It was followed by Olivia Dean’s ‘The Art Of Loving’, Gorillaz’ ‘The Mountain’, the War Child charity album ‘Help(2)’ and Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’.

RAYE’s ‘Where Is My Husband!’ topped the corresponding vinyl singles list, ahead of Taylor Swift’s ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’ and ‘Opalite’, and Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s ‘Rein Me In’.

Despite the continued growth in music consumption, questions remain over how much of the industry’s increased revenue reaches working artists.

The Musicians’ Union continues to cite findings from the UK Musicians’ Census showing that the average annual income from music work is £20,700, while 43 per cent of professional musicians earn less than £14,000 a year from music.

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