Corroborating a report published by Luminate last July (cf. our news Audio CD sales: spectacular increase of +16% in the United States driven by Generation Z), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) indicates that CD sales exploded in the first half of 2026 in the United States.
CD sales make a leap forward of 45.7%
Thus, 17.5 million CDs were sold during the first six months of the year, up 45.7% from the 12 million in 2025 for the same period. In terms of value, this is a jump of 58.6%, for a total of $171.1 million. An exceptional result, when you know that CD sales fell by 22% between 2024 and 2025.
Vinyl resists, streaming remains untouchable
The same observation for vinyl, another "retro" format that continues its rise with an increase of +21% between 2025 and 2026. Despite everything, [abc]streaming[/abc] has firmly established itself and remains unassailable, with revenue that grew by +4.7% to reach $4.9 billion.