What was the first piece of music released on a compact disc?
Physical media has come a long way since the first vinyl record was created in 1948. Over seven decades later, we have witnessed the invention of cassette tapes and Walkmans, CDs and boomboxes, and, more recently, iPods, digital downloads and streaming. Listening to music has become easier than ever — you don’t need to peruse the aisles of a record store to find your new favourite song anymore, there are hundreds of thousands of tracks available at the mere click of a button.
While the rise of streaming has democratised the music industry in some ways, allowing artists the chance to upload their music without label support and attract the attention of audiences across the world, it also has its fair share of cons. Musicians are losing out on profits for their creations, with streams producing very little revenue for artists. Fortunately, the last decade or so has shown a revived audience interest in physical media.
A reinterest in vinyl led sales of the format in the United Kingdom to increase for years, with 5.9 million units selling in 2023. This was 0.4 million more than in 2022. But vinyl isn’t the only format that fans have taken an interest in. In fact, interest in this format seems to be waning, with numbers experiencing a drop in 2024. Perhaps audiences are losing interest in vinyl, or being priced out of the format.
Meanwhile, more and more artists seem to be looking at cassettes, benefitting from the low cost of producing them and, thus, the ability to sell to fans at a lower price. They also benefit from their DIY nature. Even the compact disc is making a comeback as vinyl becomes more expensive, becoming a more viable option for fans who still want to own physical copies of music.
As vinyl prices soar, CDs line the walls of charity shops and will often only set you back a couple of quid for a classic record. It’s easy to see why the format might be becoming the preference for some consumers, but where and when was the first piece of music put onto a compact disc?
So, what was the first piece of music released on CD?
In the summer of 1982, the music of Polish pianist Frédéric Chopin was put onto CD, played by fellow piano master Claudio Arrau. This takes the title for the first commercial CD that was ever created, but it wasn’t the first CD that was released. In fact, that honour goes to a number of different titles released all on the same day a couple of months later.
In October 1982, Japanese audiences became the first music fans to be able to purchase music on a compact disc format. 50 titles were released on the first of the month. Among them were re-releases of Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, and a slew of records by the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel. The latter’s sixth record, 52nd Street, is considered to be the first. In the following year, the ABBA album The Visitors was also released in this format, becoming another of the first CD releases.
The first CD in the United States to be manufactured for sale came a couple of years later, from none other than Bruce Springsteen. A CD copy of his seventh record, Born in the U.S.A., hit shelves in the summer of 1984. Some of The Boss’ biggest hits, including ‘Dancing in the Dark’, ‘I’m on Fire’ and the iconic title track, appeared on the album.
Decades later, the CD has fallen in and out of fashion. According to MusicWeek, the shiny physical format experienced its highest sales in over two decades last year, with $2.2 billion. They noted that this was the highest number since 2001, which they deemed the “historic peak of the CD era.”
The invention and rise of streaming in the mid-2000s may have led to the downfall of the CD, but the format seems to be making a comeback due to its affordability compared to other physical media.
