Skip advert
Advertisement

Streaming killed the CD in-car: but car makers should listen to the Swifties

The music industry points to 7m drivers who are still playing compact discs, and says Taylor Swift fans still love a CD

The last new car on sale with a built-in CD player has now disappeared from UK showrooms, but a resurgence in CD sales has led retailers to suggest car makers are turning their backs on music fans.

Nowadays, new cars rely on streaming services and drivers’ own connected devices to supply tunes when they don’t want to listen to the radio. The last model to feature a CD player was the Subaru Forester, which went off sale earlier this year.

However, according to the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA): “Car manufacturers should listen to the Swifties and give the CD another chance.” It points to its own survey data that shows 15 per cent of the UK’s adult population still listen to CDs in their cars, which amounts to around seven million individual drivers.

Advertisement - Article continues below

While CD sales have fallen dramatically from a high point of 170 million in 2004 to just 11.4 million last year, ERA claims there has been a recent rebound in interest for the format, just as with vinyl, which has reported increasing sales for 18 years on the trot.

The organisation’s CEO Kim Bayley accuses car makers of a lack of foresight. “Car makers seem to be looking through the rear-view mirror when it comes to CDs,” said Bayley. “The lesson of vinyl is that you should never write off a music format. Even today, 50 per cent more people say they listen to music on CD as on vinyl,” she added. 

“Taylor Swift is leading the way. The 172,000 CDs sold in the UK this year of her latest album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ is more than the three biggest-selling cars in the UK last year combined. Car manufacturers should listen to the Swifties and give the CD another chance.”

Do you still listen to CDs? Let us know in the comments section below...

Skip advert
Advertisement
Current affairs and features editor

Chris covers all aspects of motoring life for Auto Express. Over a long career he has contributed news and car reviews to brands such as Autocar, WhatCar?, PistonHeads, Goodwood and The Motor Trader.

Find a car with the experts

Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

Future of Nissan in the UK: new Gigafactory to power bold EV plans
Future of Nissan in the UK - header with Phil McNamara

Future of Nissan in the UK: new Gigafactory to power bold EV plans

Nissan is about to go from building the Qashqai hybrid to three fresh EVs in the UK over the next three years – all powered by a new gigafactory
Features
19 Apr 2025
New baby Nissan Juke EV on the way to challenge the Dacia Spring
Baby Nissan Juke exclusive image - rear

New baby Nissan Juke EV on the way to challenge the Dacia Spring

Nissan to fast-track development of new battery-powered city car to take on forthcoming Volkswagen ID.1, and our exclusive images preview how it could…
News
18 Apr 2025
New Renault Clio prepares for launch: And it's not an EV
Renault Clio Mk6 (camouflaged) - front 3/4 tracking

New Renault Clio prepares for launch: And it's not an EV

The Clio isn’t going anywhere despite the reemergence of the Renault 5
News
22 Apr 2025