- Figures show that CD sales have grown more than record sales so far in 2026
- The data has been presented as part of a physical media boom
- Time to buy a CD player again – or a portable CD Walkman?
In yet another statistic that seems to confirm ‘Sony-end PlayStation discs are not what we want’, new data suggests that growth in music CD sales has eclipsed vinyl in the first half of 2026.
It is hard to deny that a physical media boom is underway. First, there is the continued collective love of vinyl. Then there’s the backlash over Sony ditching physical games (along with the removal of the ability to play a standard CD on both the PlayStation 5 and 4) as well as the backlash over Netflix’s ‘streaming one minute, removed the next’ movie library. All this makes the physical product more and more valuable and desirable. Did I mention that Blu-Ray sales are also on the rise?
To prove the point when it comes to tangible music products, a report from Luminate Data suggests that physical media is more popular than ever. Sales of printed LPs, CDs and tapes apparently increased 7.8% through the first half of 2026.
But more exciting is precisely what people bought more of: the data suggests that CDs are rising in popularity far more than records, which conventional wisdom suggests is the format in vogue.
Apparently, while records grew by 2.4%, CDs jumped by 16.3%. This track follows what we’ve seen recently with retro-inspired CD players being released all over the place.
No more vinyl?
For quite some time, there has been general consensus that records are the audiophile format of choice – the groove, basically is an analog sound wave. The best turntables are for sale everywhere and new music is released on vinyl as standard.
The thing is, digital (still very breakable, scratchable and delicate) CDs may simply be another way forward, and sales certainly suggest a revival is underway.
This makes sense, as CDs are capable of fairly high-quality audio at 16-bit/44.1kHz, which is the starting point for high-resolution audio (unless you go for Super CDs, which boast even higher bitrates and overall quality). Vinyl will also always sound ‘warm’ and prone to the odd pop or crackle due to its design – and the fact that annoying dust particles are present no matter how hard we try to remove them.
CDs are also slightly more compatible with modern software; you can burn them onto your computer or digital audio player relatively quickly – although granted, many decks now have a USB port for digital storage of your more abstract pressings and recordings.
What I’m saying is, it doesn’t mean that turntables and records are on their way out. There is something indescribable about the process of putting them on to play and hearing the imperfections and mistakes. It’s just that people now also see CDs as valuable – and despite the fact that hardly any of the best laptops have a disc drive these days…
The best turntables for all budgets
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