CD single

The Mini CD single CD3 format was originally created for use for singles in the late 1980s, but met with limited success, particularly in the US. The smaller CDs were more successful in Japan and had a resurgence in Europe in the early 2000s, marketed as "Pock it" CDs, being small enough to fit in a shirt pocket. By 1989, the CD3 was in decline in the US (replaced by the 5-inch CD single, called CD5). after which very few songs were released in the CD single format in the US, but they remained extremely popular in other countries, where charts were still based solely on single sales and not radio airplay. In the year 2000, the RIAA reported that CD single sales fell by 39%, with internet downloading service Napster being blamed. In October 2001, Target which was the fourth largest music retailer in the United States, announced that it will stop selling CD singles in many of its stores due to a fall in demand. United Kingdom CD singles were first made eligible for the UK Singles Chart in 1987, and the first number 1 available on the format in that country was "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" by Whitney Houston in May 1987. At the end of the 1990s, the CD was the biggest-selling single format in the UK. Record companies would also release two CDs but, usually, these consisted of three tracks or more each. Smaller 3-inch CDs were made mostly in a small square case/cover form only, some including a 5-inch CD adapter to use in normal compact disc players. Although the format was not widely available in the United Kingdom, several artists have released singles in the format. Sales figures Table shows CD single sales in the United Kingdom and as a percentage of all music formats sold. At Q4 1996, there were 24.2 million CD singles shipped in the country. At Q4 1999 CDs made up 74.6% of single sales, with cassingle in second place and 12" singles in third place. By 2003, CD singles had significantly dropped from its peak while albums reached an all-time high. This was in part by an increase in the price of singles, which was about £4 and provided worse value for money compared to an album for £10. Asda stopped selling CD singles in 2007. (the Woolworths chain itself would collapse the following November). In March 2011, Mercury Records announced that they were to stop manufacturing CD singles for lack of demand and loss of money on the format in 2010. In July 2009, The Guardian reported that Florence + The Machine's single 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)' sold a CD and 7 inch vinyl combined total of 64 copies, where it reached number 16 in the Mid-Week Chart. 'Bad Habits' by Ed Sheeran was the best-selling CD single as of September 2021 with 11,000 copies. While CD singles no longer maintain their own section of the store, copies are still distributed but placed with the artist's albums. That is predominantly the case for popular Australian artists such as Jessica Mauboy, Kylie Minogue and, most recently, Delta Goodrem, whose then-recent singles ("What Happened to Us", "Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)" and "Sitting on Top of the World" respectively) were released on CD in limited quantities. The ARIA Singles Chart is now "predominantly compiled from legal downloads", and ARIA also stopped compiling their physical singles sales chart. "On a Mission" by Gabriella Cilmi was the last CD single to be stocked in Kmart, Target and Big W, who then concluded stocking newly released singles. Sanity Entertainment, having resisted the decline for longer than the other major outlets, has also ceased selling CD singles. In Germany, CD singles continue to be regularly issued by all major and some minor labels, and both of domestic and foreign artists. In China and South Korea, CD single releases have been rare ever since the format was introduced, due to the amount of infringement and illegal file sharing over the internet, and most of the time singles have generally been album cuts chart based only on airplay, but with the advent of digital music the charts have also occasionally included digital download counts. In Greece and Cyprus, the term "CD single" is used to describe an extended play (EP) in which there may be anywhere from three to six different tracks. These releases charted on the Greek Singles Chart (before it abandoned tracking altogether) with songs released as singles. ==Mini CD (3-inch)==

The original CD single (sometimes mini CD single or 3-inch CD or CD3 in the US) is a music single first released on a mini Compact Disc in 1987 that measures in diameter, rather than the standard . They are manufactured using the same methods as standard full-size CDs, and can be played in most standard audio CD players and CD-ROM disc drives. While mini CDs quickly fell out of popularity among most major record labels (partly due to their incompatibility with many slot-loading CD players), they lasted longer as a popular, low cost way for independent musicians and groups to release music. The plastic inserts in the sleeves could be snapped in half and folded into a small square, rather than the original length when originally sold. Trend of Physical Music Production Beginning in 1989 some labels began to package mini CDs in slimline cases. As the tanzaku sleeves slowly morphed into the use of slimline jewel cases, the production of mini CD singles was halted in the early 2000s. As popularity diminished, one of the last Japanese 8 cm CD single released was a reissue and repackaging of "I Was Born to Love You" by Queen in 2004. Many of the artists who released 8 cm CDs are from that era, including Wink, Madonna, Phil Collins, Michael Jackson, Queen, U2, Prince, Metallica, Bros, Huey Lewis and the News, Bon Jovi, Kylie Minogue, Falco and George Michael. Some singles packaged in 12 cm single jewel cases contained a 12 cm CD adapter. Most were sold at around ¥1,000 (£6 or $9) at the time of release during the late 1980s, early 2000s to the present day. Present However, there has been a small revival of mini CD singles with Japanese artists such as Hibari Misora with a reissue of her 1989 single "Kawa no Nagare no Yoni" in May 2019 in original long tanzaku form, by the record company Nippon Columbia and in July 2024 with girl group Wink Music Service releasing To Rome with Love. Sales data by the Recording Industry Association of Japan show that mini CD Singles reached peak popularity during the 1990s with 167,000,000 units sold in 1997 to a sharp decrease in production during the mid-2000s. In 2021 only 9,000 units were released. Presently, there has been an increase with 36,000 produced in 2025. United States US versions were often packaged in cardboard slipcases, either 3-inch square or 6-inch by 3-inch gatefold. Others were released in 5-inch slimline single cases, which allowed an adapter to be included with the CD. At the time of first release in 1987, their retail price was between $4 and $6, at least $3 less than even the least-expensive 5-inch discs. Delos Records, a small, independent label, issued the first commercially available 3-inch CDs in 1987 with 20 classical and jazz titles. The Massachusetts-based Rykodisc issued Frank Zappa's “Peaches en Regalia” the first pop 3-inch CD. Initially when released, 300,000 of the discs were shipped to retail outlets. Among major labels, it was largely replaced by putting less music on a regular full-size CD. The full-size discs are a more standard manufacturing process and so ended up being cheaper to press. The CD single format continued in larger production until the early 2000s with for Japanese releases, but continued to the present day in much smaller numbers. Technical specifications • Data: 185–210MiB (compared to 650–703MiB on a 12 cm CD) • Audio: 21–24 minutes (compared to 74–80 minutes on a 12 cm CD) The slim jewel boxes used for 3-inch CDs are nearly the same size as 3.5-inch floppy disks, making storage boxes for 3.5-inch floppies usable for 3-inch CDs as well. ==See also==