- Figures show that CD sales have grown more than record sales so far in 2026
- The data has been presented as part of the physical media boom
- Is it time to buy a CD player again, or a portable CD Walkman?
In yet another statistic that appears to confirm that “Sony ending PlayStation records is not what we want,” new data suggests that music CD sales growth has eclipsed vinyl in the first half of 2026.
It’s hard to deny that a physical media boom is occurring. First, there’s the continued collective love for vinyl. Then, there’s the backlash of Sony discontinuing physical games (as well as removing the ability to play a standard CD on both the PlayStation 5 and 4), as well as the pushback regarding Netflix’s ‘stream one minute, delete the next’ movie library. All of this makes the physical product increasingly valuable and desirable. Did I mention that Blu-Ray sales are also increasing in a big way?
Proving this 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 are reportedly up 7.8% through the first half of 2026.
But the most intriguing thing is precisely that people were buying more: the data suggests that CDs are gaining popularity much more than records, which conventional wisdom would suggest is the format in vogue.
Apparently, while records grew by 2.4%, CDs increased by 16.3%. This follows what we’ve been seeing recently, with retro-inspired CD players being released everywhere.
No more vinyl?
The general consensus has long been that records are the preferred format for audiophiles: groove essentially is an analog sound wave. The best record players are on sale everywhere and new music is released on vinyl as standard.
The thing is, digital compact discs (still very fragile, scratchable and delicate) could be just another way forward, and sales certainly suggest a resurgence is underway.
It makes sense, since CDs are capable of playing fairly high-quality audio at 16-bit/44.1kHz, which is the starting point for high-resolution audio (unless you opt for Super CDs, which can boast even higher bitrates and overall quality). Additionally, vinyl will always sound “warm” and will be subject to the occasional pop or creak, due to its design and the fact that there are annoying dust particles, no matter how hard we try to remove them.
CDs are also slightly more compatible with modern software; You can record them on your computer or digital audio player relatively quickly; Although it is true, many platforms now have a USB port for digital safekeeping of your more abstract prints and recordings.
What I mean is that this does not mean that turntables and records are about to disappear. There is something ineffable about the process of putting them to play and listening to the imperfections and flaws. It’s just that people now consider CDs valuable too, and even though almost none of the best laptops have a disk drive these days…
The best turntables for all budgets
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