Best Buy to Stop Selling CDs

Best Buy will stop selling music CDs, amid the growth of digital music streaming, despite the fact that the retailer used to be the most popular music seller in the United States.

“Although CDs remain a relatively popular format worldwide, sales in the U.S. dropped more than 18% last year, prompting Best Buy to drop the format entirely,” reported Digital Trends on Sunday. “Billboard is reporting that the retailer has informed music suppliers that it will stop selling CDs and pull them from shelves on July 1. Although Best Buy used to be the top music seller in the U.S., nowadays its CD sales generate a relatively low $40 million per year.”

Despite their abandonment of the ever-declining CD format, Best Buy will continue to sell vinyl records, “due to a commitment it made with vendors.”

Digital Trends also hinted that Target might be the next store to abandon CDs.

In 2016, it was reported that music sales were “down a sharp 13.6 percent to 100.3 million between January and June,” with “CD sales falling most significantly with just 50 million units sold.”

“Digital album sales dipped from 53.7 million in the first half of last year to 43.8 million over the same time frame this year, while vinyl sales rose 11.4 percent, buoyed by David Bowie’s final album Blackstar, which sold 57,000 albums to become the year’s top seller on vinyl so far,” explained Breitbart News’ Daniel Nussbaum, adding, “music lovers are increasingly turning to Spotify and other streaming services.”

This trend was also confirmed in Britain last month, when it was revealed that digital music services now accounted for the majority of music consumption.

The report also indicated vinyl sales were on a sharp rise.