Physical Single Sales by Format 1988-2005

There has been significant interest on the chat board recently in trying to determine the most popular 2-track commercial single format on a year-by-year basis for chart years in which multiple formats were made available in the U.S. market, particularly from the late '80s through the late '90s. So, I've taken the liberty of citing the number of units sold in millions (M) for each available commercial single format from 1988 through 2005, using data from the U.S. Recorded Music Sales Volume by Format chart published by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). I'm hoping this will help serve as a valuable reference guide for determining "official" single versions in cases where different versions of a Top 40 hit are featured as the lead track on multiple format releases. (For easier reference, I've highlighted the most popular format for each year in red italicized bold print):

1987
Vinyl 45 - 82.0M
Cassette single - 5.1M

1988
Vinyl 45 - 65.6M
Cassette single - 22.5M

1989
Cassette single - 76.2M
Vinyl 45 - 36.6M

1990
Cassette single - 87.4M
Vinyl 45 - 27.6M
CD single - 1.1M

1991
Cassette single - 69.0M
Vinyl 45 - 22.0M
CD single - 5.7M

1992
Cassette single - 84.6M
Vinyl 45 - 19.8M
CD single - 7.3M

1993
Cassette single - 85.6M
Vinyl 45 - 15.1M
CD single - 7.8M

1994
Cassette single - 81.1M
Vinyl 45 - 11.7M
CD single - 9.3M

1995
Cassette single - 70.7M
CD single - 21.5M
Vinyl 45 - 10.2M

1996
Cassette single - 59.9M
CD single - 43.2M
Vinyl 45 - 10.1M

1997
CD single - 66.7M
Cassette single - 42.2M
Vinyl 45 - 7.5M

1998
CD single - 56.0M
Cassette single - 26.4M
Vinyl 45 - 5.4M

1999
CD single - 55.9M
Cassette single - 14.2M
Vinyl 45 - 5.3M

2000
CD single - 34.2M
Vinyl 45 - 4.8M
Cassette single - 1.3M

2001
CD single - 17.3M
Vinyl 45 - 5.5M

2002
CD single - 4.5M
Vinyl 45 - 4.4M

2003
CD single - 8.3M
Vinyl 45 - 3.8M

2004
Download single - 139.4M
Vinyl 45 - 3.5M
CD single - 3.1M

2005
Download single - 366.9M
CD single - 2.8M
Vinyl 45 - 2.3M

I didn't think there was a practical need to compile single sales volume by year any further because it's quite evident by this point that download singles have since remained the most popular singles format by a huge margin.

So, based on RIAA data, the "dominant" commercial single format by era can be summarized as follows from 1955 to the present day:

1955-1988: Vinyl 45
1989-1996: Cassette single
1997-2003: CD single
2004-present: Download single

Edited by Todd Ireland

Not real surprising to me. In 1989, the decline in sales of the vinyl singles can be
attributed to the lack of availability, especially in the lower rungs of the Hot 100. The Hot
Country singles in 1990 still had a 90% or so availability on vinyl. The Hot Soul singles at
that time mirrored the Hot 100. I remember some Top 10 singles in 1991 were still not available
on vinyl and some were released after the single had already peaked. -Bill

I think you're probably right about that, Paul. For one thing, I didn't realize how cassette singles' popularity had exploded in 1989, though I do recall purchasing my first ever cassette single that spring (Jimmy Harnen with Synch's "Where Are You Now", a song that could have easily been mistaken for an REO Speedwagon "power ballad"!). I was always a CD guy, but occasionally I would buy cassette singles just to have a professional sounding copy of current hit songs that I could play endlessly in my car's cassette deck.

It does surprise me a bit, though, how long it took CD single sales to eventually surpass cassette single sales in 1997, given that regular CD sales overall had overtaken that of cassettes five years prior. I do recall in late 1992/early 1993 when I first became interested in seeking out CD singles and being frustrated by the lack of product available on that format at the time. I distinctly remember a standard 2-track CD single typically retailing for $4.99, while maxi-CD singles went for $6.99. These were expensive price points in those days, especially for looking to acquire only one song, so I imagine this was probably a significant reason why CD singles sales seemed to catch on rather slowly in the U.S. market.

Nice try, Paul. The split between the Pop books should
have been between the Hot 100 as a record chart versus the
song chart it became in late 1998. Perhaps you can
address this if/when future editions of the Pop books are
published.

I think one problem with CD singles was also content...or
lack thereof. CD singles and albums were the same size
making singles seem like a ripoff when the same medium
could have so much more content. At least a 45 was
smaller than an album - you got less music and less
physical product. Cassingles were the same - seeing so
little tape through the window felt like such a ripoff
especially when cassettes were not that durable in the
first place.

Edited by Scanner

As a wedding DJ, in the days before (legal) downloads
became available, I always preferred CD singles for the
newer and newest music back then. That way, I was only
buying it for the hit vs. buying a whole album CD for one
song that might not turn out to be a hit.

By 1994, I was so happy to discover Top Hits U.S.A. for
DJ's so I could get all the potential hits on one disc.
Eventually, I switched to PrimeCuts in 2005 and then Promo
Only in 2018 when Primecuts ceased.

I never thought about that, Dave, but that's a valid observation. Younger consumers with limited spending budgets may have been more likely to select cassette singles over CD singles for perhaps at least partially that reason (and lower pricing). I remember how the early portable CD Walkman and car CD players were very sensitive to bumps and thus prone to "skipping" and mistracking. You're right about how this issue didn't seem to get remedied until at least the mid- to late '90s. The one positive attribute with cassettes compared to all other formats is that they're obviously not vulnerable to "skipping" problems!

I too recall that the availability of CD singles was pretty low.

The larger music stores that I shopped usually carried a decent
sized selection of cassette singles. But if CD singles were sold
at all it was in very small quantities. Perhaps that was related to
the quantity of CD singles being made available to them by
music labels. Or perhaps the store's sales history or corporate
policy regarding CD singles dictated they carry less inventory.

Oddly I recall seeing more CD singles in the discount bins than
when they were current hits. Perhaps the proliferation of the
"Now That's What I Call Music" type compilations contributed to
their demise.

CountryPD wrote: Oddly I recall seeing more CD singles in the discount bins than when they were current hits. Perhaps the proliferation of the "Now That's What I Call Music" type compilations contributed to their demise.

Oddly enough they stopped the Now series after Vol 90. That's how far the CD itself has fallen off in sales. A great series but you are correct why buy 16 of the newest songs that are popular when I can get the CD for 10-15 bucks every 3 months? It didn't make financial sense.

PopArchivist wrote: Instead of maxing out space no one did or chose not to from the label.

It's not the disc's potential capacity that comes into play. It's the costs involved vs. what the buying public is willing to spend. The more music you cram onto a CD, the more the artists and songwriters make, which means the price of the CD has to go up to cover those expenses. When the CD price goes up, demand and sales go down. It's all a business decision that has nothing to do with the cost (or size) of the plastic holding the music.

Edited by aaronk

PopArchivist wrote: Todd Ireland wrote: A couple of other thoughts that have occurred to me... I firmly believe that CD singles were really never marketed properly in the U.S. and therefore never truly enjoyed a bonafide sales boom here. By the time this format had finally emerged as the preferred one among consumers, record labels began to stop making popular hits available as retail single releases in favor of forcing consumers into having to purchase these songs on their more expensive album counterparts. Meanwhile, there was no uniform packaging standard with U.S. CD single releases. Thus, consumers were treated to a messy hodgepodge of the product being issued in everything from standard jewel cases to slimline jewel cases to cardboard sleeves to "digipaks", etc. which made storing them both a pain and an eyesore. I give full credit and props to European countries for marketing CD singles the right way... As far back as 1989, or even 1988 in the U.K., one could reliably find pretty much any hit song available on CD single and uniformly issued in a slimline jewel case! I can attest that the CD single sometimes came in awkward packaging (a cardboard slip cover around 93-98 was very common offering no protection). They were not as nicely done as an album of the era which has a jewel case. I can agree that Europe marketed the CD single the way it should have been. By 1999 Billboard had finally allowed album tracks to chart. The CD single was still very popular. The point where the CD single fell off the cliff was after 2009. The 2007-current period is dominated by digital downloads, including Itunes and Amazon exclusives etc. As Aaron can now attest, and as Pat before him CD releases of new stuff do not exist. Many of us board members for our personal collections saw this coming decades ago with Napster and P2P. Storage is now affordable to the point where you can amass thousands of tracks and unload your physical CD collection. The times they are a changin'.....

Man, how I have always passionately hated to see CD singles packaged with the cheap plastic trays and awful cardboard slip covers that you describe! In fact, that rotten packaging deterred me from buying a number of CD singles during the mid-'90s that I otherwise was willing to purchase!

Meanwhile, judging by the sales data put out by the RIAA, I'd argue the point that CD singles really "fell off a cliff" was closer to 2000 and 2001. And the thing is, this was not due to declining interest and demand from consumers, but rather from record labels intentionally suppressing the release of CD single product. It's as though the labels never really wanted to see CD singles truly maximize their popularity out of fear that album sales would become cannibalized as a result, thus reducing profits. Yet, despite these unfounded fears, we witnessed cases like Santana's improbable comeback album Supernatural get certified a phenomenal 15x platinum (for shipping 15 million copies to retail), while still yielding two huge #1 platinum-selling singles, "Smooth" (featuring Rob Thomas) and "Maria Maria" (featuring the Product G&B)!