CD sales in the United States rose 16 percent during the first half of 2026, outpacing vinyl's 2.4 percent increase according to new industry data.
Entertainment data company Luminate reported the figures in its 2026 Midyear Report. A total of 16.3 million CDs were sold between January and the end of June, compared with 21.8 million vinyl albums. Cassette sales reached 205,000 units.
Combined sales of CDs, vinyl records and cassettes rose 7.8 percent to 38.2 million units. Luminate credited much of the CD growth to collection building, price accessibility, a strong schedule of K-pop releases and BTS' album Arirang.
The album sold 516,000 physical copies in its opening week, including 208,000 vinyl units. Even after removing all K-pop sales from the data, CD purchases still increased 6.7 percent year on year.
Luminate noted that approximately half of Gen Z and millennial consumers buying CDs do not own a CD player. US on-demand audio streams rose 4.8 percent to 732.7 billion during the same period.
