CD Sales Have Increased for the First Time in 17 Years

CD sales have increased for the first time in 17 years, Billboard reports. The year-end statistics, courtesy of  MRC Data, state that compact disc sales reached 40.59 million units last year, up 1.1% from 40.16 million units in 2020. The jump in CD sales is due to a few top-selling artists, namely Adele and Taylor Swift. Adele’s new hit album 30 was the top-selling CD in the United States, with a total of 898,000 units sold. Swift took the second and third slots with her recently re-recorded versions of Fearless (263,000 CDs sold) and Red (237,000).

The top-10 CD sales list also includes Taylor Swift’s Evermore (213,000 units sold), BTS’ Map of the Soul: 7 (210,000) and Be (187,000), Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour (195,000), and others. 2021 marked the first year that CD sales saw a gain since 2004, when revenue from the format was exponentially higher than it is today.

Last month, vinyl saw its biggest sales week since at least 1991, with roughly 2.11 million vinyl albums sold. Adele’s 30 was also the best-selling vinyl album of the year.

Revisit “How the Coronavirus Is Affecting America’s Vinyl Record Industry” and “Why Are Independent Artists and Labels Turning Away From Vinyl?” on the Pitch.