These latest CD figures mean that 'just' 41 million CDs were purchased between January and June, a fair few down on the 56.8 million from the same time in 2014.

This steep decline arrives in a year when vinyl sales have hit their highest numbers since the turn of the century. Streaming services, such as Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, and Amazon Prime, have risen a considerable amount this year as well.

These losses have been numbed by a ferious uptake in streamin, which grew to take one-third of the U.S. music industry's total income ($3.17 billion).

Sales of LPs grew by 52% in the first half of the year, raking in $221.8m (£143m) - roughly half as much as CD sales.

The chairman of the RIAA, Cary Sherman, says that these new statistics show "the story of a business undergoing an enormous transition."

He added that "intense demand and billions of streams does not always equal fair market rates or a fair playing field."

Taylor Swift's 2014 1989 was the top-selling record in the first six months of 2015, with Drake hurtling into second place with If You're Reading This It's Too Late.