Recorded music reached US$31.7 billion in worldwide trade revenue in 2025, with streaming providing most income while physical formats continued to grow. The figures below distinguish industry revenue, wholesale measures, survey responses and platform-reported royalties across their stated populations and periods.
Key Recorded Music Statistics
The most useful headline figures span market scale, listening behavior and artist outcomes:
- Worldwide recorded music revenue reached US$31.7 billion in 2025, up 6.4% year over year.
- Streaming generated more than US$22 billion, or 69.6% of worldwide recorded music income, in 2025.
- Paid streaming subscription accounts reached 837 million globally in 2025, although accounts are not necessarily unique users.
- Physical-format revenue increased 8.0% worldwide in 2025.
- Global vinyl revenue rose 13.7% in 2025, its nineteenth consecutive year of growth.
- The USA and Canada held 38.7% of global recorded music revenue in 2025, while the region grew 3.5%.
- China’s recorded music revenue grew 20.1% in 2025, making China the fourth-largest global market.
- Latin America’s recorded music revenue grew 17.1% in 2025, its sixteenth consecutive year of growth.
- U.S. recorded music wholesale revenue reached US$11.5353 billion in 2025, up 3.1% from 2024.
- U.S. premium paid subscriptions reached 106.5 million accounts in 2025, generating US$5.8811 billion in wholesale revenue.
- U.S. vinyl shipments reached 46.8 million units in 2025, with US$1.0429 billion in wholesale revenue.
- People in IFPI’s core 18-country survey listened to music for 20.7 hours per week in 2023, up from 20.1 hours in 2022.
- Seventy-three percent of surveyed people listened through licensed audio streaming services in 2023.
- Audio streaming represented 32% of music-engagement time in the 2023 core 18-country survey, compared with 31% for video streaming and 17% for radio.
- Seventy-one percent of surveyed people said music was important to their mental health in 2023, a self-reported perception rather than a clinical outcome.
- More than 13,800 artists generated at least US$100,000 from Spotify alone in 2025.
- More than 1,500 artists generated over US$1 million in Spotify royalties in 2025.
- The 100,000th-highest-earning artist generated more than US$7,300 on Spotify in 2025, versus about US$350 in 2015.
Contents
- Global recorded music market size and format mix
- Regional recorded music trends and market concentration
- U.S. recorded music revenue and format data
- How people listen to recorded music
- Music discovery, genres, radio and purchasing
- Streaming-era artist economics and global reach
Global Recorded Music Market Size and Format Mix
IFPI reported that worldwide recorded music revenue grew for the eleventh consecutive year in 2025. The measure is trade revenue, so it should not be read as consumer retail spending.
| Global measure | 2025 result | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Total recorded music revenue | US$31.7 billion; +6.4% | Worldwide trade revenue |
| Streaming revenue | More than US$22 billion; 69.6% | Revenue-format category |
| Paid-subscription share | 52.4%; +8.8% | Share of global revenue |
| Paid subscription accounts | 837 million | Global accounts, not unique people |
| Physical-format revenue | +8.0% | Worldwide trade revenue change |
| Performance rights | US$2.9 billion; +0.3% | Worldwide category |
Physical listening also expanded in the worldwide market. Vinyl revenue rose 13.7% in 2025, marking its nineteenth consecutive year of growth, while IFPI’s industry-data summary reported 4.8% growth in 2024 and a tenth consecutive year of growth for that year.
Regional Recorded Music Trends and Market Concentration
Regional growth varied sharply in 2025, with Asia, Latin America and China among the faster-growing markets. The shares below describe each region’s share of the global measure named, not population or listening time.
| Region or market | 2025 growth | Additional measure |
|---|---|---|
| USA and Canada | 3.5% | 38.7% of global revenue |
| Europe | 5.6% | 30.4% of global revenue |
| Asia | 10.9% | 45.1% of global physical revenue |
| Latin America | 17.1% | 88.1% of regional revenue from streaming |
| China | 20.1% | Fourth-largest global market |
| Japan | 8.9% | National recorded music revenue |
Country-level results show a broad range. The United Kingdom grew 4.8%, Germany 1.7% and France 3.7%; Canada grew 5.6% and ranked ninth globally, while Brazil grew 14.1% and Mexico 13.3%, with Mexico ranking tenth globally.
Latin America recorded its sixteenth consecutive year of growth in 2025. Its 88.1% streaming share indicates a particularly streaming-led regional revenue mix, while Asia supplied 45.1% of worldwide physical-format revenue.
U.S. Recorded Music Revenue, Subscriptions and Physical Formats
RIAA’s U.S. figures are wholesale values net after returns, not consumer retail spending. On that basis, total recorded music wholesale revenue reached US$11.5353 billion in 2025, up 3.1% from 2024.
| U.S. measure | 2025 result | Change or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Total streaming | US$9.4745 billion | +3.1% year over year |
| Premium paid subscriptions | US$5.8811 billion; 106.5 million accounts | Accounts are not unique people |
| Non-premium subscriptions | US$495.2 million | -4.5% |
| Free streaming | US$1.7893 billion | -0.6% |
| Downloads | US$272.6 million | -0.8% |
| Synchronization | US$407.1 million | -1.3% |
Source: RIAA YEAR-END RECORDED MUSIC REVENUE REPORT 25.
Premium paid-subscription revenue grew 6.8% in 2025, while premium accounts grew 6.5%. The first half of 2025 alone recorded 105.3 million premium accounts and US$2.8875 billion in premium revenue; total first-half recorded music revenue was US$5.5891 billion, up 0.9% from the first half of 2024.
Physical formats remained material in the U.S. market. Total physical-format revenue rose 5.0% to US$1.3810 billion in 2025, including 46.8 million vinyl units worth US$1.0429 billion and 29.5 million CD units worth US$312.4 million.
Source: RIAA MID-YEAR RECORDED MUSIC REVENUE REPORT 25.
How People Listen to Recorded Music
IFPI’s Engaging with Music 2023 study surveyed more than 43,000 internet users in 26 countries, mostly ages 16–64; fieldwork took place in August–October 2023. Its global figures exclude several country-focus markets, and responses are self-reported.
People in the core 18-country sample listened to music for an average of 20.7 hours per week in 2023, compared with 20.1 hours in 2022. Seventy-three percent said they used licensed audio streaming services, while 48% used subscription audio streaming specifically; subscription-streaming listening time grew 7% during the survey period.
| Share of music-engagement time | 2023 result |
|---|---|
| Audio streaming | 32% |
| Video streaming | 31% |
| Radio | 17% |
Source: IFPI ENGAGING WITH MUSIC 2023.
Access and wellbeing were also prominent reported themes. Fifty-seven percent said access to music from anywhere in the world was important, rising to 65% among respondents aged 16–24; 71% said music was important to their mental health, and 78% said it helped them relax and cope with stress.
These are perceptions, not clinical outcomes.
Respondents used more than seven different methods to engage with music on average. Among surveyed gamers, 80% listened to music while playing games.
Music Discovery, Genres, Radio and Purchasing
The 2023 survey connected paid access with ongoing discovery: 44% of people who paid for a music subscription discovered a new artist at least weekly. Among respondents aged 16–44, 64% liked discovering older music that was new to them.
More than 700 genres were named in the study. The five most popular global favorite-genre positions were pop, rock, hip-hop/rap, dance/electronic and Latin; this ranking is not a ranking of listening hours or revenue.
Radio remained tied closely to music. Among surveyed radio listeners, 76% listened mainly for music and 67% chose a favorite station because of its music.
| Radio listening time by device | 2023 share |
|---|---|
| Standalone or car radio | 65% |
| Phone or computer | 17% |
| Smart speaker | 9% |
| Another way | 8% |
Source: IFPI ENGAGING WITH MUSIC 2023. Shares are self-reported and rounding may affect totals.
Recent physical buying was measurable but uneven: 13% reported buying a CD, 9% vinyl and 5% a cassette in the previous month. Among surveyed vinyl purchasers, 24% cited collecting, 22% physical ownership and 19% the ritual of playing a record as reasons for buying; multiple reasons may have been possible.
Streaming-Era Artist Economics and Global Reach
Spotify’s Loud & Clear figures are platform-reported royalties, not total artist income or an industry-wide census. In 2025, Spotify paid more than US$11 billion to the music industry, bringing cumulative payouts since 2008 close to US$70 billion; payouts grew more than 10% year over year, and independent artists and labels generated roughly half of royalties.
| Spotify outcome | 2025 result | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Artists generating at least US$100,000 | More than 13,800 | Spotify alone |
| Artists generating over US$1 million | More than 1,500 | Spotify royalties |
| Highest-earning threshold group | 80 artists over US$10 million each | Spotify alone |
| 100,000th-highest-earning artist | More than US$7,300 | About US$350 in 2015 |
| Countries represented among artists over US$500,000 | 75 | 66 in the prior year |
Source: As Spotify Turns 20, the Most Global and Diverse Music Industry in History Has Taken Shape.
More than one-third of Spotify artists earning at least US$10,000 in 2025 were DIY or had started their careers that way. Spotify defines DIY here as self-releasing through independent distributors or starting that way, and more than 90% of DIY royalties went to artists releasing music for more than a year; the latter is a platform-reported share, not causal evidence.
Spotify also reported that artists saw more than half of their royalties come from outside their home country on average two years after debuting. This is an estimate and an average, not a country-level median; artists earning more than US$500,000 represented 75 countries in 2025, up from 66 the prior year.
Publishing economics form another part of the platform picture. Spotify reported approximately US$5 billion paid to publishers and songwriter organizations over 2024–2025.