The global music scene just hit a staggering 5.1 trillion streams in 2025, marking a record year with rock taking the lead in genre growth.
The global music industry achieved a remarkable milestone in 2025, reaching 5.1 trillion streams, a 9.6% increase from the previous year, according to Luminate’s Year-End Report. This surge reflects a digital landscape that continues to evolve and captivate audiences worldwide. In the U.S. alone, on-demand audio streams climbed to 1.4 trillion, representing a 4.6% rise from 2024. However, the trend shows a strong preference for older tracks, with less than half (43%) of on-demand audio streams originating from songs released in the past five years.
Notably, 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, showcasing the continued commercial viability of established artists. Rock music emerged as the standout genre, witnessing a 6.4% increase in streams, while Latin music also saw growth at 5.2%. Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” was particularly noteworthy, garnering 2.97 billion U.S. on-demand audio streams, contributing to his total of 5.3 billion streams.
Jaime Marconette, Luminate’s vice president of music insights and industry relations, highlighted rock’s impressive growth, noting that it expanded its share of the streaming market significantly this year. Despite the genre leaning towards catalog tracks (over 18 months old), it still managed to achieve a substantial number of new current streams. In contrast, Christian and gospel music witnessed an exceptional 18.5% increase in on-demand audio volume, led by artists such as Forrest Frank, Brandon Lake, and Elevation Worship.
The rise of artificial intelligence artists also made headlines in 2025, with Xania Monet becoming the first AI act to reach the Billboard radio charts, debuting at No. 3 on Hot Gospel Songs and No. 20 on Hot R&B Songs. Monet racked up an impressive 125 million global on-demand audio streams, while other AI acts like Breaking Rust and Cain Walker also achieved significant stream counts. Breaking Rust’s “Walk My Walk” even topped Billboard’s country digital song sales chart in November, showcasing how generative AI is altering the music industry landscape.
In terms of global on-demand audio streams, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” led the charts with 2.858 billion streams, followed closely by HUNTR/X’s “Golden” and Alex Warren’s “Ordinary.” Many top tracks saw large streaming figures, with seven of the top ten tracks released in 2024. R&B and hip-hop continued to dominate U.S. music streaming, accounting for more than one out of every four streams. The genre amassed 349.9 billion on-demand audio streams this year, up from 341.63 billion in 2024. Rock, pop, country, and Latin followed in popularity, each experiencing growth in their stream counts.
