#Ancillary 6. Recent CD sales

As you may have guessed, in the last decade or two, CD sales have taken a decline, as the digital age takes over.

Here is a graph of projected CD sales for the USA, beginning in 2005 up until 2022

Sales of physical copies of CD's have since been overthrown by the digital album from companies like Apple with their famous music store 'iTunes'. The below graph shows how the digital downloads on iTunes seem to be always increasing, where in the same years on the graph above, physical CD sales are on the decrease. 

Many artists have realised this, and started releasing albums and singles which are only available for digital download. For example, Beyonce recently released her 5th album 'Beyonce' (2013) originally only on iTunes release, and it featured hit songs such as 'Drunk In Love'.

Some artists are also releasing free albums on iTunes, and a popular example is U2, with their album 'Songs Of Innocence'. Many people woke up to find this album downloaded on there apple devices, wondering why, but it was a gift from U2!

Vinyl Rebirth?

Within the last year and a bit, vinyl record sales have been on the rise, along with record players. This is because of young people (like teenagers) wanting to be retro by owning a record player, along with vinyls - some classic ones, like the Beetles, or Fleetwood Mac, and some modern, like Beyonce and Lana Del Ray.

Some of these so called 'Retro' teenagers have also discovered the great sound quality and collectability of records, and don't just listen to say they do and sound cool.