Quick, which music-based physical media do you think had the biggest comeback in 2026? You’d be forgiven for choosing anything but CDs. And yet, here we are.
According to a new mid-year report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), CD revenue had surged. It jumped 58.6% in the United States during the first half of 202, reaching $171 million. This is up significantly from the same period in 2025, when it was about $108 million.
Now, there’s no denying that vinyl is still the biggest money-maker overall. For comparison, vinyl generated $554 million across the first six months of 2026. However, vinyl’s revenue growth was 17.7 percent. This means CD sales outpaced vinyl, with a growth of 25.9 percent.
Experts have noticed the trend of CDs becoming popular again
Notably, experts have picked up on the rising trend of CDs growing in popularity again.
Deputy editor of the technology magazine Stuff, Tom Morgan-Freelander, spoke with The Guardian about noticing that consumers have started to prefer good audio quality over streaming music from their phones. “It’s: ‘I don’t want to spend money on a turntable and the speakers that go with it. I want to spend £150 on an all-in-one system that comes with the CD player,’” he explained.
Richard Farnell, who runs Vinyl Exchange in Manchester, England, told the outlet that many of his customers are younger people buying CDs because they’re cheaper than vinyl. “The record labels started to up the price of vinyl, and it became largely unaffordable for this demographic,” he shared.
“A copy of Oasis’s Definitely Maybe on original UK ‘Damont’ pressing can sell for between £150 and £250, depending upon condition,” Farnell continued. “The standard vinyl reissue will be around £25-£30, but in our shop the CD version will only be £4.”
Finally, J’Nae Phillips—who blogs about Gen Z trends on the Fashion Tingz Substack—notes that the experience of a CD can be very satisfying for younger listeners. “When music is effectively infinite and frictionless, something is appealing about having to choose an album, put a disc in and listen to it from beginning to end,” she said.
She then added, “There’s a certain cultural cachet in showing that you’re interested in music as an object and an experience. Rather than simply consuming whatever happens to be recommended by an algorithm.”
Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images
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