Retro Revival? Physical Music Sales Surge in 2026
This article is published in collaboration with Statista
by Felix Richter
CD sales are making a surprise comeback in the United States, joining vinyl in a resurgence of physical media. According to the latest mid-year report by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), CD sales surged 45.7 percent in the first six months of 2026, reaching 17.5 million units. Revenue from CD sales, measured in wholesale value by RIAA, even jumped 58.6 percent, leading the industry in terms of growth.
According to Luminate, the unlikely CD revival was driven by collectible K-pop releases, especially BTS’ ARIRANG, without which CD sales would still have grown, but a lot more modestly. The fact that fandom and the desire to support artists are key drivers of the physical media resurgence is underlined by an interesting side-fact: Luminate found that just over half of Gen Z and Millennials who bought a CD don’t even own a CD player.
As our chart shows, the music industry’s retro revival barely moves the needle in the grand scheme of things. According to RIAA, CD sales still accounted for less than three percent of recorded music revenues in the first half of 2026, with total physical music sales adding up to 12 percent of the total. Streaming continues to be the industry’s biggest revenue source by far, accounting for more than 80 percent of music revenues so far in 2026.
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