When did CD's go mainstream?

Compact discs (CDs) replaced cassette tapes over time as the dominant format for music. The first commercial compact disc, Billy Joel's 52nd Street, was released in Japan in 1982. Throughout the 1980s, vinyl LPs, cassettes, and CDs all sold well, but CDs gradually overtook sales of vinyl and CDs. (The first CD to sell one million copies and outsell its vinyl counterpart was Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms in 1985.) In the 1980s and into the 1990s, CDs cost $15 and up, which was considerably more than cassette tapes, which were usually in the $8 range or less. Also, many cars had cassette players in them, and people were a little resistant to re-buy their music on a third format (assuming they had bought some things first on LP and then on cassette). Eventually, though, CDs won out; cars came with CD players, prices of CDs went down somewhat, and cassettes were relegated to thrift stores and attics. Cassettes were still sold, however, up until around the late 1990s.