CD Sales Statistics: Vinyl Beat the CD in the UK in 2022

The UK: A Format That Refuses to Die

1. UK CD trade revenue: 96.7 million pounds in 2024

The BPI reports UK CD trade income at 96.7 million pounds in 2024, down a fractional 0.5 percent on the year. After a string of double-digit declines in the early 2020s, the format has settled into a roughly 90-plus million pound annual business.¹

2. CD revenue ticked up 3.1 percent in 2025

UK CD trade revenue actually grew 3.1 percent in 2025 to 99.6 million pounds, a rare uptick as collectors and new-album buyers kept the format alive.²

3. About 10.5 million CD albums sold in 2024

UK consumers bought roughly 10.5 million CD albums in 2024, down 2.9 percent on the year. The drop was much milder than the 19.4 percent slump in 2022 or the 6.9 percent fall in 2023.³

4. Vinyl outsold CDs by revenue back in 2022

Vinyl trade revenue overtook CD revenue in 2022 for the first time since 1987. Vinyl brought in 119.5 million pounds against the CD's 89.5 million pounds, a milestone that landed in the UK years before the same crossover hit the US market.⁴

5. UK vinyl revenue: 145.7 million pounds in 2024

UK vinyl trade revenue reached 145.7 million pounds in 2024, up 2.9 percent on the year, then surged a further 19.9 percent in 2025 to widen its lead over CDs to roughly 75 million pounds.⁵

6. Physical music up for a third year running

Physical music revenue rose 12.8 percent to 278 million pounds in 2025, the third consecutive annual gain after two decades of decline. Vinyl did almost all of the heavy lifting.⁶

7. UK recorded music: a record 1.57 billion pounds

Total UK recorded music trade revenue hit a nominal record of 1.57 billion pounds in 2025, up 5 percent and the 11th consecutive year of growth.⁷

8. Streaming passed 1 billion pounds in 2024

UK streaming trade revenue broke the 1 billion pound barrier for the first time in 2024, reaching 1.02 billion pounds and 68.1 percent of the recorded music total. Spotify alone holds about 47 percent of the UK subscription market.⁸

9. Coldplay Moon Music: the year's best-selling CD

Coldplay's Moon Music was the UK's biggest CD album of 2024 with more than 204,000 copies sold on disc, edging out Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department by roughly 7,000 units.⁹

10. Sainsbury's pulled CDs from its shelves in 2021

Sainsbury's became the first major UK supermarket to phase out CD and DVD sales, citing a shift to streaming. Vinyl stayed on the shelves in selected stores, underlining where the format's centre of gravity now sits.¹⁰

11. HMV: about 100 UK stores and growing again

HMV operates roughly 100 UK shops, returned to Oxford Street in 2023 after a four-year absence, and added a Peterborough store in 2025 as part of an ongoing expansion across the UK and Europe.¹¹

Worldwide: Streaming Pushes CDs Aside

12. Global CD revenue down 6.1 percent

Worldwide CD revenue fell 6.1 percent year on year in 2024, with the steepest declines in North America and Europe outside Japan.¹²

13. Global physical revenue: about 4.8 billion dollars

The worldwide physical music business shrank 3.1 percent to roughly 4.8 billion dollars in 2024, with vinyl growth softening the blow from falling CD and music video sales.¹³

14. Global recorded music: 29.6 billion dollars

Total global recorded music revenue grew 4.8 percent to 29.6 billion dollars in 2024, the tenth straight year of expansion.¹⁴

15. Global vinyl up 4.6 percent

Vinyl was the only physical format with global growth in 2024, up 4.6 percent and now in its 18th consecutive year of gains.¹⁵

The Crash Since the 2004 Peak

16. UK CD peak: 174.6 million units in 2004

At the format's high water mark in 2004, UK consumers bought a record 174.6 million CD albums, a year when Scissor Sisters and Robbie Williams ruled the charts.¹⁶

17. CD unit sales down about 94 percent

With roughly 10.5 million CDs sold in 2024 against 174.6 million in 2004, UK CD album volumes are down about 94 percent from their peak.¹⁷

Japan: The Great Exception

18. Physical formats still drive 65 percent of revenue

In Japan, the world's second-largest recorded music market, physical formats still generate about 65 percent of revenue, with streaming at only 35 percent.¹⁸

19. Japanese physical audio sales: about 985 million dollars

Japanese physical audio sales actually rose 2 percent to 148.96 billion yen, around 985 million dollars, in 2024, even as stand-alone CD sales fell 25.4 percent.¹⁹

20. First commercial CD shipped in October 1982

The CD launched commercially in Japan on 1 October 1982, kicking off a four-decade arc from cutting-edge format to streaming-era niche.²⁰