Highlights
- Demands driven by K-pop fans bolstered overall CD sales up 10% at HMV, making CDs an accessible, collectible alternative to vinyl for Gen Z consumers.
- Store visits across the UK music retailer rose 12% in the first half of 2026, putting the HMV chain on track for 50M visits this year.
- Capitalizing on the trend, other retailers apart from HMV are also actively focusing to make their shops dedicated pop culture hubs.
The music industry's streaming-first model is facing a sudden high street counterweight, which is the K-pop physical media. Young fans are driving the demand for collectible CD editions, offering the format a sales boost across the UK's entertainment retail sector.
Why Young Fans are Still Buying Physical Music
As reported by Press Association Media, UK music retailers like HMV's overall CD sales surged 10% year-over-year, reversing a long-running drop in the format. The upward trajectory is largely propelled by releases by K-pop acts like BTS and other western artists such as, Olivia Rodrigo, Ariane Grande, Olivia Dean. The sector notably sells albums as elaborate collector's editions featuring photobooks, posters, randomized trading cards, alongside merchandise like keychain, jewelry and soft toys or plushies.
BTS - ARIRANG Merchandise at HMV
HMV Managing Director Phil Halliday confirmed to Press Association Media that they had doubled down on K-pop CD inventory as younger shoppers sought a more affordable alternative to vinyl formats. Although HMV's vinyl sales rose 27% in stores and 45% online year-over-year, CDs offer these young fans with limited income, a lower-cost way to participate in the habit of physical music collecting.
BTS - ARIRANG Albums and Vinys at HMV
Music Retailers Expand Into Fandom Retail
As the youth traffic increased, it triggered a 12% year-over-year increase in HMV’s first-half store visits. Owing to this trend, the 114-location UK chain expects 50 million total customer visits in 2026, boosted partly by weekend surges, a common shopping habit in teenage shoppers.
To capitalize on this pattern, HMV restructured its store layouts, committing floor space to pop culture merchandise as well as the albums. Other retail chains are also following a similar playbook, for instance, The Works, which operates more than 500 locations across the UK and Ireland, reported that they sold thousands of “squishy” toys per week alongside registering gains in Pokémon trading cards.
'Kawaii Squishy Bao Bun' for sale at HMV store. 'KIMMON' plush keychain ad for The Works.
The development depicts a wider shift where music is progressively functioning as a launchpad to explore adjacent categories instead of promoting standalone products exclusive to the sector. What the high-street chains should now understand is the opportunity lies in creating ecosystems around fandom that can interlink albums, collectibles, and merchandise, thus generating a massive pop culture spending.
