Americans bought more compact discs in the first half of 2026, according to research firm Luminate, giving the supposedly obsolete format another awkward victory lap.
Luminate said 16.3 million CDs were sold in the United States during the first six months of the year. That was 16 percent higher than the same period in 2025, the firm said in its midyear report.
The increase was not only a K-pop story, though K-pop appears to have done plenty of the work. Luminate attributed the rise to fans building collections, CDs being relatively affordable, major releases including BTS’ ARIRANG, and a strong schedule of K-pop releases.
Physical media sales often get flattened into a nostalgia story, but Luminate’s numbers point to a more specific buying pattern: fans are purchasing discs as objects as much as, or sometimes more than, as playback media. A CD can sit on a shelf, complete a collection, or function as a lower-cost way to buy something connected to an artist. Streaming does not do that, no matter how many year-end share cards it generates.
Luminate also said CD sales still increased after K-pop was removed from the count. Excluding that category, US CD sales were up 6.7 percent year over year. That matters because it limits the easy explanation that one fandom segment carried the entire format.
The report does not mean CDs have returned to their old role as the default way people listen to albums. The figures cited by Luminate cover unit sales, not listening behavior, and the available data does not say how many buyers actually play the discs they purchase. It does show that the market for physical music is broader than vinyl-only revival talk tends to suggest.
For artists and labels, the appeal is straightforward: a CD is a sellable item at a lower price than many vinyl editions, and fan communities can turn releases into collectible events. Luminate’s report credits that combination, along with major artist releases, for the first-half gain.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
