CD sales are making an unexpected comeback amid a retro tech boom

And to be fair, the trend could be bigger than the RIAA’s numbers demonstrate, as they don’t include used CD sales, like those discs bought from thrift bins or garage sales, nor do they account for how many CDs have now been handed down from Gen X parents to their kids.

We should note there’s one caveat to the trend here.

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.