# What was the first album released on CD? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2002, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099 "2002-05-03T17:00:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/1 "2002-05-03T17:00:18Z")
A Google search, and a look-through of Philips’ site, have not revealed the answer to this question, so I turn to the Straight Dope. What was the first musical album released on CD? I have a feeling one of the first was Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms, but that may have been the first popular-music album… ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/2 "2002-05-03T17:04:02Z")
Nope, it wasn’t _Brothers in Arms_. I know that because I bought _Making Movies_ on CD before BiA. Sorry, but I can’t give you the answer you are looking for. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/3 "2002-05-03T17:05:45Z")
WAG is that it was Bob 'Til You Drop by Ry Cooder. It was the first pop record that was recorded, mixed, and mastered digitally. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/4 "2002-05-03T17:10:16Z")
[http://www.allzimbabwe.com/tukumusic/bio.html](http://www.allzimbabwe.com/tukumusic/bio.html) tells us it was something entitled “Shoko”. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/5 "2002-05-03T17:28:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunspace \* > \*\*I have a feeling one of the first was Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms, but that may have been the first popular-music album… \*\* It wasn’t Brother’s In Arms, but this was certainly one of the first to get a big push on CD. Philips sponsored Dire Straits’ 1985 world tour as a means of promoting CDs. \*\* Schnitte\*\*, the CD you refer to was released in 1990. I think what it really refers to is the first CD by that particular artist. [This site says Billy Joel was first!](http://www.engineering.ucsb.edu/~jrosen00/cd/history.html) [This site says also Bridge Over Troubled Water and Michael Jackson.](http://www.bsnpubs.com/cdhist.html) But it also says 34 unnamed classical pieces came first. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/6 "2002-05-03T17:40:20Z")
I thought it was Billy Joels Glass Houses but I’m not sure anymore… damn… I heard this a just while ago but can’t remember. Maybe it was a Springsteen album instead. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/7 "2002-05-03T18:47:42Z")
I’m not sure who the first original CD release was (i.e. hadn’t been previously issued on vinyl), but I seem to recall that the first CD’s to hit the store were the re-release of The Beatle’s Sgt Pepper back in '85 or '86. I remember a couple of local music stores with lone-standing displays for Sgt Pepper CD’s, in a sea of vinyl and cassettes of other artists. ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/8 "2002-05-03T19:01:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GargoyleWB \* > \*\*I’m not sure who the first original CD release was (i.e. hadn’t been previously issued on vinyl), but I seem to recall that the first CD’s to hit the store were the re-release of The Beatle’s Sgt Pepper back in '85 or '86. I remember a couple of local music stores with lone-standing displays for Sgt Pepper CD’s, in a sea of vinyl and cassettes of other artists. \*\* Sorry, but you recall incorrectly. Sgt. Pepper was re-released in '87 for its 20th anniversary. CDs had already been available in stores for 5 years before then… ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/9 "2002-05-03T19:02:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GargoyleWB \* > \*\*I’m not sure who the first original CD release was (i.e. hadn’t been previously issued on vinyl), but I seem to recall that the first CD’s to hit the store were the re-release of The Beatle’s Sgt Pepper back in '85 or '86. I remember a couple of local music stores with lone-standing displays for Sgt Pepper CD’s, in a sea of vinyl and cassettes of other artists. \*\* Again no. My CD collection was already around 70 discs before Sgt. Pepper was released. Granted it did get one hell of a media blitz. **Chrome Spot** , I was under the impression that _The Nightfly_ by Donald Fagan was the first DDD CD. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/10 "2002-05-03T19:07:23Z")
[This site](http://www.engineering.ucsb.edu/~jrosen00/cd/history.html) says it was Billy Joel’s **52nd Street**. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/11 "2002-05-03T22:21:38Z")
[interesting stuff you should know](http://www.dcmsoft.com/rumor/story/stuff2.htm) > [@](#): > > The Boss’s Born In The U.S.A. was the first compact disk that was available in the U.S. This is still being researched, but the first CD manufactured in the U.S. was (probably) a promotional CD called “The Edison CD Sampler.” This is according to The CD Depot. However, a more substantial source is forthcoming. It also looks as if there were probably a number of titles released simultaneously. [INTRODUCTION OF THE CD…](http://www.bsnpubs.com/cdhist.html) > [@](#): > > By the end of 1982, CBS/Sony and Epic/Sony had issued 122 CD titles. Of these, 34 were classical, followed in number by jazz, rock, and pop, including 12 karaoke (“empty orchestra”) titles to be used in singalongs (gadzooks, what hath CD wrought?). Among the titles were Billy Joel’s Nylon Curtain and 52nd Street, Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, REO Speedwagon’s Hi Infidelity, and Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall. [ ---
**Author:** ![bcullman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bcullman/32/8207_2.png) [@bcullman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bcullman)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/12 "2002-05-03T23:27:27Z")
I belive Dire Straits ‘Brother in Arms’ was the first CD to sell a million units. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/13 "2002-05-03T23:54:28Z")
I would tend to believe that there were a number of titles released simultaneously. It would seem odd to me to go through the headache of putting together what at that time was expensive hardware for which there would only be one title available. ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/14 "2002-05-04T02:07:04Z")
For what its worth, Devo’s Total Devo in '88 was the first to be released simultaniously in LP, CD, Cassette, and DAT formats. I remember as a kid in the very early 80s reading Stereo Review magazine (This is when i lusted after a portable boom box type record player from Radio Shack that was advertised in the magazine…I’d give my left nut for one of those now…well, maybe not) and they were hyping the new technology as the wave of the future…I remember the players were over a Thousand Dollars and that most of the discs available were classical music. I’m hoping that with all the bad press record companies and their twenty dollar coasters are getting, that vinyl will make a comback, not that it ever went away. Jon ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/15 "2002-05-04T12:56:05Z")
**Why A Duck** and **astro**. Thanks guys. Next time I’m looking for someone to repeat what I’ve just said using the exact same web page cites I’ll know where to look… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/16 "2002-05-04T16:36:08Z")
Did somebody say something? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/17 "2002-05-04T17:49:50Z")
Why a Duck quack is a Futile Gesture? Because it doesn’t echo if no one can hear it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/18 "2002-05-04T18:29:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Why A Duck \* > \*\*Did somebody say something? 😉 \*\* Yeah I’m looking for the source of the noise too but I’ve got the feeling it’s an exercise in futility. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Vaioman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ecccb3/32.png) [@Vaioman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vaioman)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/19 "2002-05-04T18:37:56Z")
If I remember correctly, Vanilla Ice had the first Cd to not be released on Vinyl… ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099/20 "2002-05-04T18:46:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Vaioman \* > \*\*If I remember correctly, Vanilla Ice had the first Cd to not be released on Vinyl… \*\* The man was a pioneer in so many ways… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-album-released-on-cd/107099.md?page=2)