Retro technology is making a comebackand this week, the Recording Industry Association of the United States (RIAA) put concrete figures on this trend in terms of music consumption habits. Surprisingly, the organization reported that CDs (yes, the shiny, round objects that Spotify supposedly killed) are growing once again.
According The new RIAA report.CDs generated $171.1 million in revenue during the first half of 2026 (up 58.6% from approximately $107.9 million in the first half of 2025) on 17.5 million units sold, up 45.7% from approximately 12 million units in the same period last year.
That rally is even more interesting because it comes after a difficult 2025. full annual report showed that CD revenue had actually fallen 7.8% for the full year, from $338.9 million in 2024 to $312.4 million in 2025, while units sold fell 11.6%, from $33.3 million to 29.5 million.
The growth occurs amid an increase in renewed interest in simpler technologylike the so-called “dumb phones“, digital cameras, typewriters, landline phones, and physical media like CDs and vinyl, among other categories. For Generation Z, the demand for these devices represents a kind of longing for an era of technology they never got to experience, where you had more control over when and how you interacted with technology, and the technology itself had less room to invade your life with its notifications, addictive apps, and algorithms.
Several startups are also playing in this space now. including landline phone manufacturers as can, Oomaand Grinderand not smartphones like those of Light, silly company, Minimumand others, including the upcoming release BlackBerry-like clicks. Meanwhile, Gen Z consumers are purchasing old devices at thrift stores or on old tech websites like eBay or Retrospective.
And to be fair, the trend could be larger than the RIAA figures demonstrate, since they don’t include sales of used CDs, such as records bought in thrift bins or at garage sales, nor do they take into account how many CDs have now been passed down from Generation X parents to their children.
We should note that there is a warning about this trend here.
The RIAA changed the way it calculates dollar figures in 2025, moving from the estimated retail value to the wholesale value. That means the 2024 and 2025 revenue figures are not directly comparable. But unit sales, which are unaffected by that change, tell the same fundamental story: 29.5 million CDs sold in 2025, up from 33.3 million in 2024. So CDs were still falling before this year’s unexpected rebound.
Vinyl sales also continue to grow. In fact, revenue from so-called physical media in the first half of 2026 increased 25.9% to $731.5 million, driven not only by the 58.6% increase in CD revenue but also by a 17.7% increase in vinyl revenue.
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