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
1979 total sales: $10,209.4 million
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1979 total sales: $10,209.4 million
Bestseller: 52nd Street
Billy Joel
LPsLPs$6,695.9 million
8-TRACK TAPES8-TRACK TAPES$1,900.8 million
CASSETTE TAPESCASSETTE TAPES$1,612.7 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

The Soundabout is released in Japan and later renamed the Walkman in the U.S.

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.