Charting the mytunes revolution

It's taken decades of technology breakthroughs to get from 8-tracks to iPods. Digital downloads still represent just a fraction of total music sales, but CD sales have slid steadily since their introduction. Fortune looks at how the way we listen to music has changed over the years.

By Doris Burke
1973 total sales: $9,156.1 million
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1973 total sales: $9,156.1 million
Bestseller: The World is a Ghetto
War
LPsLPs$6,519.9 million
8-TRACK TAPES8-TRACK TAPES$2,220.2 million
CASSETTE TAPESCASSETTE TAPES$345.1 million
COMPACT DISCSCOMPACT DISCSN/A
MP3 DOWNLOADSMP3 DOWNLOADSN/A
Sources: RIAA, Billboard. All figures in 2007 dollars.
Sales for LPs, cassettes, and CDs include singles
Some music formats are omitted

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Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2013 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2013. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.
© 2013 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy. Ad choices .