2021 marks the revival of music CDs as sales increase for the first time in 17 years

2021 marks the revival of music CDs. According to MRC’s year-end report, presented in collaboration with Billboard, sales of CDs were up 1.1% to 40.6 million units  in 2021 from that in 2020. This marked the first time CD sales have increased year-over-year since 2004.

The “holy pop trinity” of Adele, Taylor Swift and BTS is cited as the main driver behind this growth. They accounted for 7.1% of all CD sales in 2021. CD packaging, which included physical copies with exclusive tracks as well as collectibles like tees, photo cards and posters, are seen as some factors that influence purchases. 

Adele’s album “30” sold 898,000 units alone, accounting for 2.15% of all CD sales throughout 2021. Sales of Taylor Swift’s re-released album “Red (Taylor’s Version)” reached 146,700 copies. 

Meanwhile, BTS sold 210,000 copies of “Map of the Soul: 7” and 187,000 copies of “BE”. Tomorrow x Together sold 215,000 copies of “The Chaos Chapter: Freeze”, while NCT 127 managed to sell 211,000 copies of “Sticker”. It shows that the popularity of K-Pop acts has indeed helped increase CD sales in 2021. 

The report also recorded a notable growth not only in CD sales. It also saw a 21.7% increase in physical albums sales which includes vinyl LPs. Vinyl's resurgence has also been skyrocketing. Back in 2011, vinyl only made up 1.7% of physical music sales, with CDs making up the rest. 

However, in just 10 years, that figure rose to 50.4%. This means, according to the report, that vinyl records have surpassed CDs as the most sold physical format for the first time since 1991.