And the Rest Was Musical History

Here’s a bit of trivia to know and share: the first compact discs became available in the United States on this date, two decades ago.

Apparently, on March 2, 1983, CBS Records released 16 titles on CD in the U.S. The first CD to be manufactured was The Visitors by ABBA in Germany in 1982. The first album to be released on CD was Billy Joel’s 52nd Street, which reached the market alongside Sony's CD player CDP-101 on October 1, 1982, in Japan. I guess that means the ABBA recording was produced before 52nd Street but released after.

And, to confuse things further, Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA was the first compact disc manufactured in the United States for commercial release, when CBS opened its CD manufacturing plant in Terre Haute, Indiana, in September 1984. Discs previously had been imported from Japan.

You can find out more here. And here.