CD sales in the United States recorded a surprising rebound during the first half of 2026, according to a new report from Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). CD revenue reached $171.1 million, an increase of 58.6% compared with approximately $107.9 million during the same period in 2025.
The increase was not limited to revenue; units sold rose 45.7% to 17.5 million CDs, compared with approximately 12 million units during the first half of the previous year. This shift is particularly significant because it came after a year of decline: CD revenue fell 7.8% in 2025 to $312.4 million, compared with $338.9 million in 2024, while sales dropped from 33.3 million units to 29.5 million, a decline of 11.6%.
A Broader Return to Less-Connected Technology
These figures place CDs within a renewed wave of interest in technologies and media that give users greater control over when and how they are used. The phenomenon includes feature phones, digital cameras, typewriters, landline phones, as well as CDs and vinyl records.
The article suggests that some members of Generation Z are drawn to these products as a technological experience they did not live through at the time, and as an alternative to constant notifications, apps designed to increase engagement, and algorithms that determine what users see. Some consumers also buy older devices from secondhand stores and vintage technology marketplaces such as eBay and Retrospekt.
Startups are attempting to capitalize on this interest through products that move away from smartphones or reintroduce traditional communication tools. These include Tin Can, Ooma, and Pinwheel in the landline phone sector; Light, Dumb Co, and Minimal in the non-smartphone sector; as well as the upcoming Clicks device, whose design is inspired by BlackBerry.
What Do the Numbers Actually Say?
Comparing revenue between years requires some caution. RIAA changed its method for calculating financial value in 2025, moving from estimating retail value to calculating wholesale value, which makes the revenue figures for 2024 and 2025 not directly comparable. Unit sales, however, are not affected by this change, and they confirm that CDs were still on a downward trajectory in 2025 before the 2026 rebound.
RIAA data also does not include used CDs sold in vintage-goods stores or at garage sales, nor does it count CDs passed from parents to their children. Therefore, the actual scale of physical-media use may be larger than the picture presented by new-CD sales.
Vinyl Supports the Same Trend
The rebound was not limited to CDs. Physical-media revenue overall rose 25.9% during the first half of 2026 to $731.5 million, driven by a 58.6% increase in CD revenue and 17.7% growth in vinyl-record revenue.
Editorial reading: These data do not prove that CDs have regained their former position or that they are competing with streaming services on a broad scale, but they do point to a tangible change in demand for physical products in the United States market. More importantly, the comparison requires separating the impact of new sales from the used market, while taking into account the accounting change in revenue measurement.