The CD is now 30 years old

The good old compact disc is officially 30 years old today, and to mark the occasion record label trade body the BPI and the Official Charts Company have released some stats. Because we all love stats. Yes even the CD-hating music-stealing file-sharing kids love a good statistic.

So here goes. The biggest selling CD of all time in the UK is ABBA’s hits collection ‘Gold’, which has sold four million units to date. Though, while ‘Gold’ was released in the hey day of the compact disc in 1992, the second biggest selling CD is very much a hit of the digital era, it being Adele’s ’21′, which has so far sold 3.5 million copies on CD. Oasis’s ‘What’s The Story Morning Glory’ is the third biggest selling disc, having sold 3.4 million units.

As previously reported, late last year there were rumours on the good old internet that the record industry was about to ditch the CD format in favour of digital platforms. Of course those rumours were bollocks. While the compact disc is obviously destined, ultimately, to become a niche premium product, and is already pretty much redundant in the singles market, the format is still performing well in the mainstream album domain, especially in the UK.

And elsewhere in today’s CD stats, the BPI reveals that while digital does now account for the majority of rock, urban and dance music sales (though, in terms of albums, only recently), 77.7% of classical album sales are still on CD.

Dancing Queen

ABBA

#Now Playing

(via ink-and-quill)