That Eric Alper

The global music industry hit 5.1 trillion streams in 2025 according to Luminate’s Year-End Report, marking a new single-year record with a 9.6% increase from 2024. In the U.S., on-demand audio streams reached 1.4 trillion, up 4.6% from last year, though attention remains firmly on older music with less than half of all U.S. on-demand audio streams (43%) coming from tracks released in the last five years. Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” and Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” both surpassed 5 million album equivalent units in a single year, combining sales and streaming. Rock led genre growth with a 6.4% increase while Latin grew 5.2%, with Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” generating 2.97 billion U.S. on-demand audio streams and his total on-demand audio streams reaching 5.3 billion.

Jaime Marconette, Luminate’s vice president of music insights and industry relations, noted that “rock is the largest growth genre this year, meaning it grew its share of the streaming pie the most. Though rock streaming in general leans catalog (tracks older than 18 months), the genre posted the second highest total of new current streams this year.” Christian/gospel music defied broader trends with an 18.5% increase in on-demand audio volume compared to 2024, led by acts like Forrest Frank, Brandon Lake, and Elevation Worship. The introduction of high-profile artificial intelligence artists became a leading music story in 2025, with Xania Monet becoming the first AI act to debut on a Billboard radio chart, reaching No. 3 on Hot Gospel Songs and No. 20 on Hot R&B Songs.

AI artists demonstrated real commercial success throughout the year. Monet earned 125 million global on-demand audio streams, while Breaking Rust brought in roughly 72.8 million streams, Cain Walker reached 48.1 million, Enlly Blue hit 34.8 million, and Juno Skye garnered 15.5 million. Breaking Rust’s “Walk My Walk” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s country digital song sales chart in November, with its vocal phrasing, melodic shape, and stylistic DNA coming from Grammy-nominated country artist Blanco Brown. These artists serve as examples of generative AI continuing to reshape the music industry, giving anyone the ability to create seemingly new songs by typing prompts into a chat window, often using models trained on real artists’ voices and styles without their knowledge.

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” topped global on-demand audio streams with 2.858 billion, followed by HUNTR/X’s “Golden” from “Kpop Demon Hunters” with 2.430 billion and Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” with 2.403 billion. Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” reached 2.236 billion while Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” hit 2.133 billion. Bad Bunny’s “DtMF” garnered 1.701 billion, Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” reached 1.672 billion, Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” hit 1.630 billion, sombr’s “Back to Friends” brought in 1.587 billion, and Gracie Abrams’ “That’s So True” rounded out the top 10 with 1.544 billion. Seven of the top 10 tracks were released in 2024.

R&B and hip-hop maintained their lead in overall U.S. music streaming for another year, accounting for more than one in every four streams stateside with 349.9 billion on-demand audio streams, up from 341.63 billion last year. Rock followed with 260.5 billion (up from 234.22 billion), pop reached 167.2 billion (up from 165.49 billion), country hit 122.5 billion (up from 117.58 billion), and Latin rounded out the top five with 120.9 billion (up from 113.02 billion).