Influence of the ‘super fans’

Leading the trend are so-called “super fans,” whoaccount for 18% of music listeners in the United States, according to a recent report from Luminate. “Super fans” engage with their favorite artist in at least five different ways, including streaming, attending a concert, and physically purchasing their music (like cassettes or CDs). Also, they spend $39 per month on those purchases, 105% more than the average fan.

These hyper-engaged fans are mostly Gen Z, with the top-selling cassette sales in 2025 coming from top 40 artists, like Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Charli XCX, Luminate’s data revealed. Gen Z is also the biggest demographic of US music listeners to buy cassettes, with 9% purchasing one in the past year.

Kori Fuerst, the owner of Retrospekt, an online store that revives retro technology, said that a “vast majority” of buyers for cassettes are millennials, Gen Z and Gen Y — all of whom “are looking for more opportunities to put their phone down and interact with music in a way that doesn’t require streaming.”

“With a cassette tape, it’s not easy to skip around between songs,”she told CNN. “You have to listen to the album all the way through, stopping to flip the tape halfway through. These tangible experiences are a nice reprieve from the perfect curation of a streamed playlist.”