Physical CDs are so back.
On Wednesday (July 15), Luminate published their annual midyear report, revealing compact disc sales jumped 16 percent during the first half of the year to 16.3 million units. The surge significantly outpaced vinyl, which saw a 2.4 percent increase over the same period.
BTS’ massive ARIRANG album helped drive the CD boom, but the format’s resurgence isn’t solely tied to K-pop. After removing BTS and the broader K-pop catalog from the numbers, CD sales were still up 6.7 percent year over year.
The numbers point to a larger revival of physical music overall. Sales of physical albums, including LPs, CDs and cassettes, increased 7.8 percent in the U.S. through the first half of 2026, with 38.2 million units sold.
Younger listeners may be playing a major role in the shift. Luminate found that 60 percent of Gen Z listeners now say music from the 1990s or earlier is what they listen to most often. This number was just 18 percent five years ago in 2021. Social media is helping significantly with music discovery both new and old, and with nostalgia being a huge market right now, it makes the numbers somewhat less surprising.
The retail landscape is also shifting alongside the resurgence.
Independent record stores remain the biggest sellers of physical albums, but Target and Walmart saw the largest growth during the first half of the year, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the market. Luminate says K-pop’s collector culture is a major factor, with K-pop acts BTS, ENHYPEN and ATEEZ among the top sellers at mass retailers because of store-specific exclusives and other related offerings.
Might be time to dust off that portable CD player.
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