Music CD units shipped in the US

American yogurt going up, American CDs going down. Two formats failing to coexist on the same kitchen counter, the breakfast cup defeating the jewel case in plain sight. The inverse correlation is so on-trend for 2002-2011 it could be a museum exhibit.

US per-capita yogurt consumption climbed from about 7 to over 13 pounds per person between 2002 and 2011 as Greek yogurt entered American supermarkets and brands like Chobani, Fage, and Stonyfield expanded the category. CD shipments collapsed in parallel, from over 800 million units in 2002 to under 200 million by 2011 as iTunes downloads and then Spotify (2008) replaced physical music. Two unrelated technological and dietary transitions sharing a window because both happened to play out in the same nine years. The transition decade had more than one thing to dispose of.

Some decades are about replacement. The shelf and the spoon both swapped contents.