Back in the 1980s, tens of millions of cassette tapes were sold each year. It was how you heard your music or any other audio recording.
Fast forward to today, and while they may have disappeared from most retail shelves, the humble cassette tape may be on its way back, much like its older cousin vinyl. Despite its shortcomings from an audio quality perspective, music fans are rediscovering a love for the retro cassette.
Not only have cassette sales grown in the UK for the past ten consecutive years, there is renewed interest in the format gaining momentum in Australia. In fact, modern musicians are also releasing their latest albums on cassette just as eagerly as they are uploading them to streaming platforms.
Echoes of this revival are now resonating globally, including in the United States and Australia.
While the UK surge makes headlines periodically, cassettes are rising elsewhere too. In the United States, cassette sales jumped by more than 200 % in the first quarter of 2025, signalling that a renewed appetite may exist on the other side of the Atlantic.
Industry observers argue the resurgence has roots in the pandemic-era rediscovery of physical formats, when streaming alone couldn’t satisfy fans’ craving for ‘owning’ music.
For Australian music fans, cassettes remain more of a niche — but there is a spark. Music retailers in Sydney have reported modest but steady increases in tape sales, especially when major artists release albums on cassette.
The format’s appeal in Australia often blends affordability with nostalgia. Cassettes are cheaper to produce than vinyl, making them accessible for fans and indie artists alike.
For many, owning a cassette, even if they don’t immediately use it, is less about audio fidelity and more about possessing a tangible piece of music history.
While the uptake is slower compared to vinyl, there is still demand enough to support a niche market for cassette players and vintage audio equipment. Indeed, market analysis firms expect demand to persist through to 2030 for cassette recorders in Australia, driven by nostalgia and analogue-audio enthusiasts.
Several factors help explain why cassettes, which by all rights were declared dead by many in the early 2000s, are now in the midst of a thriving new era across continents.
Part of this could be penned on artist support. Big-name pop stars and contemporary artists are releasing new albums on cassette, alongside vinyl and digital. This is legitimising the format, putting it back in the spotlight for younger listeners and perhaps even creating a new way for generations to bond through another shared entertainment passion.
Cassettes are also cheaper to manufacture than vinyl, meaning they can often serve as low-cost collectible merchandise – attractive to price-conscious fans and those drawn to physical music culture.
Many cassette-buyers appreciate the tactile, old-school listening ritual – the process of inserting a tape, hitting play, and listening start-to-finish without skipping tracks, which contrasts sharply with instant-access streaming culture.
Cassettes also do away with the perpetually annoying advertising interrupting the flow every few tracks, for those of us unwilling to outlay for premium subscriptions.
That said, the cassette resurgence remains modest compared with the dominance of streaming or even the broader vinyl revival. Observers caution that total cassette volumes remain small compared to their 1990s peak and even compared to growing vinyl sales.
In regions like Australia, cassette sales are slower than when the vinyl renaissance began. For now, cassettes also find themselves confined to niche culture, with mainstream adoption or re-adoption some way off, if it ever does again.
This isn’t a return to cassette’s glory days. Rather, it’s a gentle, global rediscovery – a trend built on niches of nostalgia, collectibility, and the desire for more ‘physical’ music experiences in an increasingly digital world.