Mondo Knows Facts
The compact disc launched in 1982
Billy Joel's 52nd Street was one of the first albums released
Sony and Philips launched the compact disc in 1982. The first commercially released album on the format is generally said to be Billy Joel's 52nd Street, issued in Japan on 1 October 1982 alongside Sony's first CD player.
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Tags: cd, technology, 1982
The compact disc launched in 1982: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Billy Joel's 52nd Street was one of the first albums released. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a music fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
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