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Time to dust off your Walkman — cassette tapes might be coming back in style.

Driving the news: Sales of cassettes nearly doubled from 173,000 in 2020 to 343,000 in 2021, according to entertainment data tracker Luminate.

And so far in 2022, sales have totaled 215,000, signaling further growth.

Artists who've recently sold music as cassettes include Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and Ozzy Osbourne, notes Luminate researcher Paulina Pchelin.

The big picture: Nostalgia has already fueled a surge in sales for vinyl records, making them more popular than CDs — so why not cassettes, too?

Yes, but: Audiophiles will tell you that vinyl provides the best sound quality, a fact helping fuel their comeback. And after that would rank CDs, with cassettes a distant third.

Reality check: Let's just say Spotify isn't exactly shaking in its boots.

Cassette tapes cannot be denied: Tape sales rising

If you're old enough to remember the Walkman, you get it.

An audio cassette tape alongside its case

Photo by Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images

Music

Time to dust off your Walkman — cassette tapes might be coming back in style.Driving the news: Sales of cassettes nearly doubled from 173,000 in 2020 to 343,000 in 2021, according to entertainment data tracker Luminate.

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Cassette tapes cannot be denied: Tape sales rising

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