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How Teenagers Listen To Music, In 1 Chart

Radio and iTunes, sure.

But we wouldn’t have guessed that more kids these days listen to music on YouTube than on anything else. Also surprising: The continued survival of CDs.

But maybe it shouldn’t be. Year after year, people want to write the CDs-are-over story. And, yes, CD sales are falling — but they aren’t falling that fast. Sales fell by 3 percent in the first half of this year, and the music industry is on pace to sell about 300 million CDs this year.

The figures in the chart come from a report Nielsen released yesterday. It has lots more on how people discover and listen to music.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. utm

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Zoe Chace explains the mysteries of the global economy for NPR's Planet Money. As a reporter for the team, Chace knows how to find compelling stories in unlikely places, including a lollipop factory in Ohio struggling to stay open, a pasta plant in Italy where everyone calls in sick, and a recording studio in New York mixing Rihanna's next hit.

In 2008, Chace came to NPR to work as an intern on Weekend Edition Saturday. As a production assistant on NPR's Arts Desk, she developed a beat covering popular music and co-created Pop Off, a regular feature about hit songs for Morning Edition. Chace shocked the music industry when she convinced the famously reclusive Lauryn Hill to sit down for an interview.

Chace got her economic training on the job. She reported for NPR's Business Desk, then began to contribute to Planet Money in 2011. Since then Chace has also pitched in to cover breaking news for the network. She reported live from New York during Hurricane Sandy and from Colorado during the 2012 Presidential election.

There is much speculation on the Internet about where Chace picked up her particular accent. She explains that it's a proprietary blend: a New England family, a Manhattan childhood, college at Oberlin in Ohio, and a first job as a teacher in a Philadelphia high school.

The radio training comes from the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, and collaboration with NPR's best editors, producers and reporters.

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