CD sales grew for the first time in two decades in the United States in 2021, according to figures supplied by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The format’s shipment volume increased from 31.6 million in 2020 to 46.6 million in 2021, while revenue increased from $483.2 million to $584.2 million. The RIAA’s figures support a similar report published earlier this year by MRC Data.
Although CD sales are still well behind their 2000 peak — when almost a billion CD records were distributed in the United States — Axios observes that the growth is another critical component of physical music’s renaissance. Vinyl sales have been expanding steadily for over a decade and a half, and are expected to reach 39.7 million units in the United States in 2021, generating $1 billion in revenue.
