In the era of streaming music, physical copies of the art form have taken a back seat in the past decade. However, CD revenue and consumer sales are making a resurgence, with the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) mid-year report showing a 58.6% increase in CD revenue for the first half of the year. It now sits at roughly $171 million, compared to $108 million in last year’s mid-year report, per Consequence. ​

Luminate tracking has also shown a 16% increase in CD sales. K-pop plays a significant part in this rise. Exclusive collectibles, like photo cards and posters, along with various album variants are commonplace for the genre and encourage listeners to buy physical copies. However, even excluding K-pop, CD sales still increased by 6.7%.

​When it comes to physical music, vinyls are still leading in terms of revenue, with $554 million in the first half of 2026. However, CDs are growing at a faster rate, with vinyls only seeing a 17.7% increase in revenue and a 2.4% increase in sales.

​Streaming remains the biggest money-maker in the industry. The RIAA mid-year report shows it accounted for $4.9 billion of the $6 billion in revenue from recorded music in the first half of the year (82%).