CD sales fell by 23.4% in 2020, according to the RIAA data, down $147.4 million YoY. Meanwhile, vinyl sales grew by 29.2% YoY – up $140.1 million on 2019 – to eclipse the CD’s annual sales haul.
It was the first time since 1986 that vinyl outsold CD on an annual basis, says the RIAA. (In 1986, according to the RIAA’s retrospective sales database, the CD format generated $930.1 million, with vinyl pulling in $983.0 million. The cassette was the year’s biggest format, with some $2.5 billion in sales.)
CDs were more popular than vinyl in terms of units sold in 2020, however: RIAA data shows that 31.6 million CD albums were sold in the year, with 22.9 million vinyl LP/EPs being snapped up.