46 Latest Music Streaming Statistics For 2026 (Usage + Revenue Data)

Looking for the latest music streaming statistics? We’ve got you covered.

In this post, we’ll be sharing 40+ interesting facts and stats about the music streaming industry. 

These stats will tell you how many music listeners use streaming services around the world and reveal useful insights about their usage habits and preferences.

We’ll also look at the size and shape of the music streaming market, what the most streamed songs and artists were last year, and lots of other interesting stuff you won’t want to miss.

General music streaming statistics

First, let’s look at some general music streaming statistics that provide an overview of how just widely used streaming is.

1. Music was streamed around 7.1 trillion times globally last year

This was the total number of on-demand song streams (including both audio and video) recorded by Luminate in 2023. That’s up from 5.3 trillion in 2022—a huge increase of 33.7% year-over-year.

If we only count audio streams and don’t count video streams of music, there was still a whopping 4.1 trillion music streams in 2023, up from 3.4 trillion (+22.3%) from the year before.

Source: Luminate

2. Consumption of music streams has increased more than 4x since 2017

There were around 950 billion global on-demand audio streams in 2017. By 2023, that had risen to 4.1 trillion global on-demand audio streams. That’s an increase of over 400% in just 6 years.

Source: Luminate

3. There will be 1.1 billion music streaming service users by 2027

According to forecasts by Statista, this is the total number of people expected to use music streaming services around the world. 

Source: Statista¹

4. The global music streaming penetration rate is estimated to be 12.7% 

Again, this is according to projections by Statista and represents the percentage of the global population that uses streaming services. 

Source: Statista¹

5. 32% of listeners mainly use streaming services to access music

Almost a third of those who listen to music mainly do so using streaming services. This makes it the number one channel for music consumption.

Video streaming came second (31%), radio third (17%), purchased music fourth (9%), and other forms of listening fifth (7%).

Source: IFPI²

Music streaming around the world

Next, let’s look at how popular music streaming is in specific countries, and how often music in different languages from around the world is streamed.

6. There were around 1.45 trillion total music streams in the US last year

This makes the US the number one country by music streaming consumption. The 1.5 trillion figure includes both audio (1.2 trillion) and video streams (300 billion) of songs and is up from 1.3 trillion in 2022 (+14.6%).

Source: Luminate

7. There were around 1.04 trillion total music streams in India last year

This makes India the second top country by overall streaming volume. However, it’s number one by year-over-year growth; there were over 463 billion new net streams in India in 2023 compared to 2022.

Source: Luminate

8. There were around 373.5 billion total music streams in Brazil last year

Brazil came third in the list of the top 10 countries by total music streams, and fourth in terms of year-over-year growth.

The rest of the top 10 countries by streaming volume include Mexico (366.5 billion), Indonesia (235.5 billion), Germany (217.6 billion), Japan (209 billion), the UK (204.7 billion), Canada (145.3 billion), and France (136.9 billion).

Source: Luminate

9. English is the most popular music streaming language

As of the end of 2023, 54.9% of the top 10k global tracks by total on-demand streams are English language content. This makes it the most popular music streaming language. However, as we’ll discuss later, the overall trend seems to be shifting away from English language content.

Source: Luminate

10. Spanish is the second most popular music streaming language

Spanish accounts for 10.1% of total on-demand streams, making it the second most popular language to stream music in. Hindi comes third at 7.8%, Korean fourth at 2.4%, and Japanese fifth at 2.1%.

11. Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to stream foreign language music

In the US, these two demographics are more likely to stream music in languages other than their own compared to any other generational demographic. Furthermore, 65% of Millennials say they ‘listen to new music to experience new cultures and perspectives’ and 63% of Gen Z say the same.

Source: Luminate

Music streaming revenue statistics

The stats below reveal more about the global music streaming market and how much revenue it generates.

12. Global music streaming industry revenue is expected to reach $22.35 billion this year…

That’s up from $19.64 billion last year, according to a report by Goldman Sachs. 

To put that into perspective, consider the fact that music downloads are expected to bring in just $0.6 billion in global revenues, and physical music sales are expected to bring in just $0.436 billion.

Source: Goldman Sachs¹

13. …and is forecast to reach $41.43 billion by 2030

This is according to forecasts from Goldman Sachs research. That’s almost double the amount of revenue it’s expected to generate this year. 

Source: Goldman Sachs¹

14. Streaming services have an overall share of 67% of global music revenues

According to an IFPI report from 2023, streaming services account for over two-thirds of global music revenues.

To break that down even further, 48.3% of music revenues come from subscription audio streams and 18.7% from ad-supported streams. 

In comparison, just 17.5% of global music revenues come from physical sales, and 3.6% from digital downloads.

Source: IFPI 

15. Paid streaming subscriptions account for 57.8% of total US music revenues

According to an RIAA report from 2022, streaming subscriptions account for 57.8% of total music revenues in the US specifically.

This is in stark contrast to a couple of decades ago when physical CD sales were by far the leading source of revenue in the US.

Source: RIAA

16. Ad-supported streaming accounts for 11.4% of total US music revenues

This makes it the second-highest revenue source in the music industry in the US. If we combine ad-supported streaming and paid streaming subscriptions, it works out that music streaming accounts for 69.2% of total music revenues in the US—higher than the global average.

Source: RIAA

17. Revenue per stream has fallen by 20% since 2017

While music streaming revenues as a whole are on the rise, that’s thanks to the increase in consumption of music streams—the amount labels/artists earn per stream has actually fallen by 20% since 2017. 

Source: Goldman Sachs¹

18. The average US listener spends around $11 to $12/month on music streaming services

And average monthly music streaming spend has increased year-over-year. The only generational demographic that didn’t increase their average music streaming spend this year is Gen Z, who spent 11% less on music streaming per month YOY.

Source: Luminate

19. Music revenue accounts for 5.28% of all entertainment spend

This doesn’t just include streaming but also other forms of music consumption. It’s up slightly from 2020, when music accounted for just 4.37% of all entertainment spend but is still way below its peak in 1998 when it accounted for 7.95% of all entertainment spend.

Source: Goldman Sachs¹

20. Monetizing ‘superfans’ could add $4.2 billion to music streaming platform revenues by 2027

Superfans are a subgroup of music stream listeners that are willing to pay more to support their favorite artists. Right now, streaming platforms aren’t adequately monetizing superfans. If they did, research from Goldman Sachs shows it could significantly boost revenues.

Source: Goldman Sachs¹

Music streaming services & platforms

Now let’s take a look at some statistics that tell us more about the leading music streaming services and platforms.

21. Spotify is the most popular music streaming platform in the world 

It accounts for 30.5% of the market share, as of Q2 2022. In other words, almost a third of all the people who stream music do so on Spotify.