CD sales just rose for the first time in almost two decades

Image: RIAA

According to data published by the Recording Industry Association of America, CD sales in the US increased for the first time in almost two decades. Revenue from the format rose from $482 million to $582 million and shipments rose from 31.6 million to 46.6 million. The RIAA's numbers are in line with a report published earlier this year.

The resurgence in physical music is one of the reasons why CD sales are still far from their 2000 peak. In the US, vinyl sales have increased for over a decade and a half, and will bring in $1 billion in revenue in 2021.

Image: RIAA

The combination means that physical media sales have increased for the first time in more than a decade. The RIAA's revenue was $8.6 billion in 2021, of which 57.2% was paid subscriptions. CD and vinyl album sales made up less than 11 percent of revenue.

I will be interested to see if this resurgence in CDs continues as the world emerges from two years of Pandemic lockdowns. I haven't seen anyone carry around a portable CD player in years, even though CDs are great for listening to music at home. CDs contain digital music that is essentially the same as what you can get from Apple and Amazon.

CD's offer a nice physical object, complete with album art and a real sense of ownership, which is something digital services can only dream of. The sense that more of your money is going to an artist, rather than a streaming corporation, is also included.