CD sales have increased by 16 per cent in the US during the first half of 2026, outpacing vinyl, which grew by just 2.4 per cent in the same period.
Figures released as part of a biannual report by the data company Luminate showed that CDs sold 16.3 million units in the country between January and the end of June. Notably, however, vinyl remains the more popular physical medium in terms of overall sales, with 21.8 million units sold.
Luminate attributes part of the surge in CD sales to the release of ARIRANG, an album by K-pop group BTS, which sold 516,000 physical copies in its first week. 208,000 of the album’s physical sales were on vinyl.
According to Luminate, the album’s first week vinyl sales are the largest by a contemporary group since the data company started tracking sales electronically in 1991.
But remove BTS and the wider K-pop catalogue from the picture and CD sales still outpaced vinyl, with a growth of 6.7 per cent. So, what else could have provoked the surge?
Article Source : https://www.whathifi.com/streaming-entertainment/growth-in-cd-sales-has-overtaken-vinyl-in-the-us-the-reasons-for-this-might-surprise-you
