The graph illustrates the trends in music sales across various mediums in the United States from 2011 to 2018.
Overall, while the majority of music sales mediums experienced a decline, streaming demonstrated significant growth throughout the period.
Initially, download sales began at 3.1 billion dollars in 2011, with a slight increase to 3.5 billion in 2012. However, this upward trajectory was not sustained, as sales dwindled to 3.4 billion in 2013 and continued their downward trend, ultimately reaching a low of 0.9 billion by 2018. In contrast, compact disc (CD) sales started robustly at 3.6 billion in 2011 but faced a consistent decline, dropping to 2.2 billion by 2014 and further reducing to 0.6 billion by 2018. Vinyl sales, although initially minimal at 0.2 billion, displayed an upward trajectory, culminating at 0.8 billion in 2018, suggesting a revival in interest toward this medium.
Conversely, streaming services experienced remarkable growth. Commencing at a mere 0.6 billion dollars in 2011, streaming sales escalated sharply to 1.0 billion in 2012. This growth accelerated dramatically in subsequent years, with sales rising to 3.5 billion by 2016, and ultimately soaring to 7.0 billion by the end of the period in 2018. This substantial increase positioned streaming as the predominant medium for music sales, overtaking all other formats by 2017, coupled with a corresponding decline in both downloads and CDs.