Many young music fans are buying CDs again, even if they do not have a CD player to listen to them.
According to a new report by the research firm Luminate, 16.3 million CDs were sold in the United States in the first half of 2026. This is a 16 percent increase compared to the same period in 2025.
For younger generations like Gen Z and Millennials, buying physical music is about more than just listening. About half of these young buyers do not own a CD player. Instead, they buy CDs to collect them, to own a physical object of their favorite music, and to support the artists they love.
The increase in CD sales was helped by massive new albums, such as ARIRANG by the popular K-pop group BTS, and other big K-pop releases. However, CD sales are growing even without K-pop. When K-pop sales are excluded from the data, US CD sales still went up by 6.7 percent.
Other physical music formats are also becoming more popular. Vinyl records remain the most popular format, with 21.8 million units sold in the first half of 2026. Around 205,000 cassette tapes were also sold. Overall, total physical music sales rose by 7.8 percent.