CD Sales Growth Owes Most Of Its Gain To K-Pop Fans
Luminate's midyear report shows CD growth falls to 6.7% once BTS and K-pop catalog sales are stripped out.
- CD units rose 16% to 16.3 million in the first half of 2026, per Luminate.
- Vinyl grew just 2.4% over the same six months, far behind CDs.
- Total physical media, including cassettes, hit 38.2 million units, up 7.8%.
Why it matters: Take away K-pop fandom's bulk purchases, and most of the celebrated CD revival simply vanishes.
Luminate 2026 Midyear Report (via Consequence.net) ↗ · Jul 16, 20267/16/26 · ✓ Checked✓ Check