In news that will devastate and make some readers feel old, it’s been revealed that no new cars in the UK will feature CD players.
CD players have been available in cars in the UK for the past 40 years, and, despite their removal from new and upcoming cars, CDs have actually increased in popularity in the last year (a 3.2% increase in the first half of the year, per NME).
The CEO of the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association, Kim Bayley, said removing CD players is “short-sighted” and that “15 per cent of the UK population” still reports listening to CDs in their cars.
Bayley added that carmakers should “listen to the Swifties and give the CD another chance” after her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, sold 172,000 CDs in the UK, which, according to Bayley, is more than the “three biggest-selling cars in the UK last year combined.”
According to Music Week, roughly seven million people – approximately 20% of the 34.5 million people with active driving licences in the UK – listen to CDs in the car.
Last June’s Infinite Dial Australia report found that 33% of Aussies with a driving licence still listen to a CD player in their cars.
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In addition to that statistic, 84% of those aged 18 and over listen to the radio while driving at a rate of 5 hours and 21 minutes, 41% of Australians stream in the car, 38% listen to podcasts, 35% play their own music collection, and 20% listen to online radio.
However, despite some Aussies’ clear love of their car CD player, CD sales have continued to drop in Australia, down 17 per cent in 2022. Could Australia also be in danger of losing the car CD player?
