Music listening spans market revenue, paid subscriptions, audio time, physical sales and exposure to loud sound. The figures below distinguish those measures by geography, population and period, because revenue and account totals do not equal minutes listened.
Key Music Listening Statistics
The most useful headline figures include:
- In 2024, global recorded-music trade revenue reached $29.6 billion, up 4.8% year over year.
- In 2024, global streaming revenue reached $20.4 billion, exceeding $20 billion for the first time.
- At the end of 2024, 752 million paid subscription accounts existed globally.
- In 2024, streaming represented 69.0% of global recorded-music revenue.
- In 2024, U.S. paid streaming subscriptions passed 100 million.
- In 2024, U.S. streaming categories accounted for 84% of recorded-music revenue.
- In 2024, Latin American streaming represented 87.8% of regional recorded-music revenue.
- In 2024, MENA streaming represented 99.5% of regional recorded-music revenue.
- In 2024, 61% of UK adults aged 16 and over listened to music radio weekly.
- In 2024, 52% of UK adults used an online music service weekly.
- In 2023/24, streamed music accounted for 22% of UK adults’ weekly audio time.
- In 2023/24, streamed music accounted for 45% of weekly audio time among UK 15–34-year-olds.
- In 2025, 79% of Americans aged 12 and over listened to online audio monthly, representing an estimated 228 million people.
- In 2024, U.S. vinyl albums outsold CDs, 44 million units to 33 million.
- Globally, more than 1.5 billion people live with some degree of hearing loss, according to the WHO’s current estimate.
- For ages 12–35 globally, more than 1 billion people are at risk of hearing loss from recreational loud-sound exposure, including personal audio.
Contents
- Global recorded-music scale and growth
- Streaming adoption and subscription statistics
- Regional music listening market data
- How people listen: radio, online music and audio time
- Physical, downloaded and streamed music trends
- Music exposure and hearing-health statistics
Global Music Listening Statistics: Recorded-Music Scale and Growth
IFPI’s Global Music Report 2025 measures the recorded-music trade, so these figures describe industry revenue rather than the number of listeners, songs played or minutes consumed.
- Global recorded-music trade revenue reached $29.6 billion in 2024, increasing 4.8% from 2023.
- Streaming revenue reached $20.4 billion globally in 2024, its first year above $20 billion.
- Streaming represented 69.0% of global recorded-music revenue in 2024.
- Global physical-format revenue was $4.8 billion in 2024, down 3.1% from 2023.
- Global subscription-streaming revenue grew 9.5% in 2024, a revenue change that should not be treated as equivalent to subscriber or listening-time growth.
- Global performance-rights revenue reached $2.9 billion in 2024, growing 5.9%; performance rights are a rights-revenue category rather than a direct listening measure.
Source: IFPI Global Music Report 2025. IFPI format groupings and trade values follow its reporting definitions.
Music Streaming Statistics and Subscription Adoption
Paid access is now a major part of the recorded-music economy, but an account is not necessarily a unique person or an active listener.
| Measure | Period and geography | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid subscription accounts | End of 2024, global | 752 million users |
| Paid subscription account growth | 2024, global | 10.6% |
| Paid streaming subscriptions | 2024, United States | More than 100 million |
| Paid subscription revenue | 2024, United States | $11.7 billion, up 5% |
| Paid share of streaming revenue | 2024, United States | 79% |
The global total comes from IFPI, while the U.S. measures come from the RIAA’s 2024 year-end report. RIAA counts multi-user plans as one subscription and excludes limited-tier services from its paid-subscription count.
- U.S. streaming revenue reached $14.9 billion in 2024, compared with $14.4 billion in 2023.
- U.S. streaming categories accounted for 84% of recorded-music revenue in 2024; the grouping includes paid, ad-supported, digital/customized radio and other services.
- U.S. limited-tier subscription revenue fell 2% to $1.0 billion in 2024.
- U.S. other ad-supported streaming revenue was $306 million in 2024, down 4%.
Sources: IFPI Global Music Report 2025 and RIAA 2024 Year-End Revenue Report.
Regional Music Listening Market Statistics
Regional revenue shares show where recorded-music commerce is concentrated; they are not population-adjusted shares of listening time.
| Region or market | Period | Revenue statistic |
|---|---|---|
| USA and Canada | 2024 | 40.3% of global recorded-music revenue |
| Europe | 2024 | 29.5% of global recorded-music revenue |
| Latin America | 2024 | Revenue grew 22.5%; 15th consecutive year of growth |
| Middle East and North Africa | 2024 | Revenue grew 22.8% |
| Asia | 2024 | 45.1% of global physical-music revenue |
Europe’s recorded-music revenue grew 8.3% in 2024. Latin America’s 22.5% growth was its fifteenth consecutive year of growth, while MENA’s 22.8% was the fastest regional growth rate reported by IFPI.
Streaming made up 87.8% of Latin American recorded-music revenue in 2024 and 99.5% of MENA recorded-music revenue. Those percentages describe regional revenue composition, not the proportion of residents who stream or the share of their time spent listening.
Source: IFPI Global Music Report 2025.
How People Listen: Music Radio, Online Services and Audio Time
Ofcom’s 2024 Audio Report found that 92% of UK adults aged 16 and over listened to some form of audio each week, based on a survey of 3,333 respondents. The measure is self-reported weekly use, not a time-share estimate.
- 61% of UK adults listened to music radio weekly in 2024.
- 52% of UK adults used an online music service weekly in 2024, including services such as Spotify or Amazon Music.
- 43% of UK adults used online music-video websites or apps for background listening weekly.
- 41% of UK adults listened weekly to personal music stored on a digital device.
- 34% of UK adults listened to speech radio weekly.
- Among UK music-radio listeners, 54% said they used it for background listening.
- Among UK music-streaming users, 58% cited entertainment and 51% cited relaxation as reasons for listening.
A separate Ofcom time-allocation measure shows a different picture. Among UK adults aged 15 and over, streamed music accounted for 22% of weekly audio time in 2023/24, while radio content accounted for 61%; these categories are not weekly reach.
| UK population | Streamed music share of weekly audio time | Radio-content share |
|---|---|---|
| Adults 15+, 2023/24 | 22% | 61% |
| Ages 15–34, 2023/24 | 45% | 34% |
For UK adults aged 15 and over, streamed music’s share rose from 13% in 2019 to 22% in 2023/24. In 2023/24, live radio on a radio set accounted for 47% of adults’ weekly audio time, online live radio for 11%, and music-video sites and channels for 4%.
Sources: Ofcom Audio Report 2024 and Media Nations: UK 2024.
The U.S. measures from Edison Research cover online audio and podcasts, which are broader than music listening. In 2025, 79% of Americans aged 12 and over listened to online audio monthly, an estimated 228 million people.
- In 2025, 70% of Americans aged 12 and over had listened to a podcast.
- In 2025, 55% of Americans aged 12 and over consumed podcasts monthly.
- Among U.S. weekly podcast listeners in 2025, 33% used YouTube most often to listen.
- Among U.S. adults aged 18 and over who drove or rode in a car during the previous month, 40% had Apple CarPlay or Android Auto in 2025, and 33% actively used either system.
Source: The Infinite Dial 2025.
Physical, Downloaded and Streamed Music Trends
Format data captures sales and revenue rather than playback frequency, completion or listening time. The RIAA’s U.S. figures show streaming dominance alongside a continuing physical market.
| U.S. format measure | 2024 result |
|---|---|
| Downloads | $336 million; 2% of recorded-music revenue |
| Physical music | $2.0 billion; up 5% |
| Vinyl revenue | $1.4 billion; up 7% |
| CD revenue | $541 million; up 1% |
| Vinyl albums sold | 44 million units |
| CD albums sold | 33 million units |
Vinyl represented nearly three quarters of U.S. physical-format revenue in 2024, as reported by RIAA. Vinyl albums outsold CDs by units, but units sold do not establish how often those albums were played.
Source: RIAA 2024 Year-End Revenue Report.
Music Listening Exposure and Hearing-Health Statistics
WHO hearing figures cover hearing loss from all causes, not music-caused diagnoses. Safe-listening estimates include personal-audio devices and other recreational sound exposure, so they describe risk rather than confirmed hearing loss.
- The WHO estimates that more than 1.5 billion people globally live with some degree of hearing loss.
- About 430 million people globally require rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss.
- By 2050, nearly 2.5 billion people are projected to have some degree of hearing loss, and more than 700 million are projected to require hearing rehabilitation.
- More than 1 billion people aged 12–35 globally are at risk of hearing loss from recreational exposure to loud sound, including personal-audio music.
- A 2019 WHO estimate found nearly 50% of people aged 12–35 at risk from prolonged or excessive loud-sound exposure, including personal audio, based on studies in middle- and high-income countries.
- Around 40% of people aged 12–35 in analyzed studies were exposed to potentially damaging sound levels at entertainment venues.
WHO gives examples of potentially unsafe exposure at more than 85 decibels for eight hours or 100 decibels for 15 minutes. These examples illustrate sound-dose risk; actual safe exposure depends on dose and circumstances.
The wider economic burden is also substantial: unaddressed hearing loss is estimated to cost almost $1 trillion internationally per year. WHO estimates that less than $1.40 per person annually could scale up global ear and hearing-care services, with a projected return of nearly $16 for every $1 invested over 10 years.
Sources: Deafness and hearing loss, Deafness and hearing loss: Safe listening, and New WHO-ITU standard aims to prevent hearing loss among 1.1 billion young people.