It certainly seems like the recorded music industry has been in decline. And compared to the peak in 1999 it has been. But if you take a longer view of history you can see that the 1990s were a weird blip, fueled by shiny new compact disc sales.

This short-term memory is understandable because Soundscan only began gathering real sales data in 1991. The RIAA, on the other hand, has collected shipment data since the early 1970s.

Throughout most of the 1980s, annual recorded music revenue hovered around $5 billion, and most of the seventies had revenue less than $4 billion, as you can see in the interactive chart below. Adjusted for inflation, that’s right around where we’ve been for the past ten years or so. The 90s were an anomaly.

Today the RIAA announced that the 2016 U.S. recorded music shipments were valued at $7.65 billion, which is up 11.4% over 2015. So good news. But if the industry thinks it’s ever going to reach 90s/CD-era levels again, they’re dreaming.

Here’s all the hard data I could scrape off the internet.

U.S. recorded music revenues

2016: $7.65 billion
2015: $6.87 billion
2014: $6.97 billion
2013: $7.0 billion
2012: $7.1 billion
2011: $7.1 billion
2010: $7.0 billion
2009: $7.8 billion
2008: $8.4802 billion
2007: $10.3721 billion
2006: $11.7582 billion
2005: $12.2969 billion
2004: $12.3450 billion
2003: $11.8544 billion
2002: $12.6142 billion
2001: $13.7409 billion
2000: $14.3237 billion
1999: $14.5847 billion
1998: $13.7112 billion
1997: $12.2368 billion
1996: $12.5338 billion
1995: $12.3203 billion
1994: $12.0680 billion
1993: $10.0466 billion
1992: $9.0240 billion
1991: $7.8342 billion
1990: $7.5411 billion
1989: $6.5794 billion

Source: RIAA via Billboard, etc, etc, etc, etc.

See also: 2016 Soundscan Data: Total Music Sales and Consumption