Compact disc revenue in the United States climbed 58.6 percent in the first half of 2026, reaching $171 million, according to a new mid-year report from the Recording Industry Association of America. That is up from roughly $108 million during the same period last year and marks the largest percentage increase of any category tracked in the findings.
The surge builds on earlier data showing CD sales had already risen 16 percent in the U.S. during the first six months of the year. Luminate reported that 16.3 million CDs were sold nationwide between January and the end of June. Vinyl sales grew by a more modest 2.4 percent year-on-year, though records remain the more popular physical format by units.
Vinyl generated $554 million in revenue during the first half of the year, according to the RIAA report, but its growth rate of 17.7 percent was outpaced by CDs. Overall physical music revenue increased 25.9 percent. Luminate noted that combined sales of CDs, records and cassettes rose 7.8 percent to approximately 38.2 million units during the period.
The data company attributed much of the rapid CD increase to collection building and price accessibility, as well as a strong slate of K-pop releases and the arrival of BTS’s comeback album, «ARIRANG». But the trend was not solely driven by BTS or the wider K-pop market. When all K-pop sales were removed from the data, U.S. CD purchases were still up 6.7 percent compared with the first half of 2025.
The RIAA and Luminate reports do not track the same metrics. Luminate measures consumer sales, while the RIAA measures wholesale revenue net of returns. The physical resurgence is unfolding alongside continued streaming growth rather than replacing digital listening. U.S. on-demand audio streams rose 4.8 percent to 732.7 billion during the opening half of the year, while global streams increased 9.8 percent to 2.8 trillion.
The CD gains arrive as physical music formats have drawn renewed attention from artists and fans. At the start of 2025, figures showed that music sales had hit their highest peak in 20 years, though artists in the UK were said to continue earning far less than the average salary. Earlier this year, Harry Styles’ «Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally» was crowned the UK’s biggest-selling vinyl album of 2026 so far, shifting 69,000 copies by mid-April. It was followed in the rundown by Olivia Dean’s «The Art Of Loving», Gorillaz’ «The Mountain», the War Child charity album «Help(2)» and Fleetwood Mac’s «Rumours». RAYE’s «Where Is My Husband!» topped the corresponding vinyl singles list, ahead of Taylor Swift’s «The Fate Of Ophelia» and «Opalite», and Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s «Rein Me In».
The new figures suggest that CDs, long written off as a legacy format, are finding a fresh audience even as vinyl dominates the physical market by revenue. The growth is broad enough to persist without the K-pop boost, pointing to sustained interest in tangible music collections.