Highlights
- Worldwide music streams reached 5.1 trillion in 2025, with US on-demand audio hitting 1.4 trillion.
- AI artists including Xania Monet and Breaking Rust generated millions of streams, with Monet becoming first AI act on Billboard radio chart.
- Less than half of US streams were from tracks released in past five years as listeners favour older catalogue music.
The global music industry has achieved a record-breaking 5.1 trillion streams in 2025, marking a 9.6 per cent increase from the previous year's milestone.
According to data from Luminate, an industry analytics company tracking music listenership behaviours, US on-demand audio streams reached 1.4 trillion, representing a 4.6 per cent year-on-year increase.
However, the figures reveal that listeners are increasingly gravitating towards older music, with less than half, just 43 per cent of all US on-demand audio streams coming from tracks released in the last five years.
Christian/gospel music emerged as the fastest-growing genre in the US, surging 18.5 per cent in on-demand audio volume compared to 2024.
Rock music grew 6.4 per cent while Latin music increased 5.2 per cent, driven largely by Bad Bunny, whose on-demand audio streams totalled 5.3 bn accounting for 4.38 per cent of all Latin streams.
"Rock is the largest growth genre this year, meaning it grew its share of the streaming pie the most," told Jaime Marconette, Luminate's vice president of music insights and industry relations to AP.
"Though rock streaming in general leans catalogue, the genre posted the second highest total of new current streams this year."
AI music rise
The rise of high-profile artificial intelligence artists became a defining music story in 2025. Xania Monet made history as the first AI act to debut on a Billboard radio chart, reaching number three on Hot Gospel Songs and number 20 on Hot R&B Songs.
The AI artist generated 125 m global on-demand audio streams last year.
AI country artists also gained traction, with Breaking Rust's song "Walk My Walk" hitting number one on Billboard's country digital song sales chart in November, accumulating 72.8 m streams.
The track used vocal elements from Grammy-nominated artist Blanco Brown.
Globally, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars topped the charts with "Die With a Smile," generating 2.858 bn streams. Seven of the top 10 tracks were released in 2024.
R&B and hip-hop continued to dominate US streaming, accounting for more than one in four streams with 349.9 bn on-demand audio streams, followed by rock with 260.5 billion and pop with 167.2 bn.
