Luminate, the data partner for Variety and much of the entertainment industry, has unveiled its 2025 Year-End Music Report today, fueled by the company’s 30 trillion data points from hundreds of verified sources.
“Over the past 12 months, we watched our industry undergo a fundamental shift as we moved away from the decade-long ‘growth at all costs’ mentality that defined the early streaming era,” Luminate CEO Rob Jonas wrote in his introduction. “In its place, we witnessed the rise of a more sophisticated, intentional and data-driven era in which music is defined not just by a stream but by its deep integration into the total global entertainment experience. As we look to the year ahead, the path to success is no longer about wide, shallow reach. It requires a deep understanding of how music interacts with film, gaming, regional cultures and the evolving habits of a modern audience. This report is designed to be your roadmap through that complexity.”
The report is filled with notable information and statistics, but perhaps most striking are the vinyl sales — led by Taylor Swift’s “Life of a Showgirl” — which rose for the 19th consecutive year in 2025. Other notes from the report appear in bullet points below. (Variety is owned by Penske Media Corporation; Luminate is a subsidiary of PME TopCo., a joint venture between Variety parent company PMC and Eldridge.”)
U.S. Top 10 Vinyl Albums
1. Taylor Swift “The Life of a Showgirl” 1,601,000
2. Sabrina Carpenter “Man’s Best Friend” 292,000
3. Kendrick Lamar “GNX” 279,000
4. Sabrina Carpenter “Short n’ Sweet” 262,000
5. Billie Eilish “Hit Me Hard and Soft” 192,000
6. Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” 190,000
7. Michael Jackson “Thriller” 182,000
8. The Weeknd “Hurry Up Tomorrow” 178,000
9. Taylor Swift “Lover (Live From Paris)” 166,000
10 Tyler, the Creator “Igor” 166,000
U.S. On-Demand Audio Streaming reached 1.4 trillion streams, a +4.6% increase. Globally, ODA streams grew by +9.6%.
U.S. vinyl sales increased for the 19th consecutive year, growing by +8.6% to 47.9 million units. Total U.S. Physical Album Sales increased by +6.5%. In contrast, U.S. Digital Album Sales dropped by -15.9%.
2025 marks the first time in the U.S. consumption era (2014+) that two individual albums earned 5m+ units in a single year (Taylor Swift’s “Life of a Showgirl” and Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem”)
The highest-growth genres by On-Demand Audio sharepoint change were Rock (+.30), Christian/Gospel (+.25), and Latin (+.04).
A record 106,000 ISRCs (tracks) were delivered to Digital Service Providers (DSPs) each day in 2025, a +7% increase over 2024, with growth primarily from the independent and DIY distribution sector.
U.S. Current music (music 18 months old or newer) declined 1.6% in volume compared to 2024; however, Current was down 3.3% at the midyear point and growth stems from a resurgent Q3 led by Pop
Nearly half (48.9%) of all Global Premium streams come from the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, and Germany. India experienced a +42% growth in premium streams, and Latin America is converting to premium streams at the highest rate, led by Mexico, which added +50.9 billion premium On-Demand streams.
Paid U.S. music streamers make up 42% of the U.S. general population yet they account for 76% of all U.S. music spend (including physical music, live events, and artist merch)
Music consumption saw massive uplifts from film. The Netflix documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin drove a +16% sustained increase in Led Zeppelin’s Global ODA streams. The Netflix animated film KPop Demon Hunters was the first official soundtrack to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 since 2022, with more than two-thirds of its audio streams coming from outside the U.S.
Gaming platforms are now critical to artist marketing strategies. The Daft Punk Experience on Fortnite drove a +47.9% jump in the duo’s U.S. On-Demand Audio streaming in its first week.
The United States retained the #1 rank in Global Export Power Rankings, with Pop as its top export genre. Brazil moved up the rankings due to Latin music exports, and Nigeria saw a rise from #23 to #19.
Brazil is the “Most Local” market in Latin America, with 75.2% of its streams coming from a local artist, while India is the “Most Local” in Asia (79.2%).
Superfans: 20% of U.S. music listeners are categorized as superfans. K-pop is notably effective at converting fans, with more than 1 in 3 K-pop listeners being superfans. U.S. superfans are +33% more likely to listen to artists from outside their own market.
High-profile AI artists emerged, most notably Xania Monet, who received a reported $3 million advance and became the first AI-generated artist to appear on a Billboard radio airplay chart (Top 30 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart).
Consumer Discomfort: The audience remains cautious, with a “significant portion of listeners” seeking the “irreplaceable human spark”. 45% expressed discomfort with AI being used for original compositions, and 44% of music listeners would be less interested in listening if they knew the music was produced using generative AI.
Generational Views: Millennials are the most comfortable with generative AI’s use in music (36% comfortable with AI-generated lyrics), followed by 13-17-year-olds (37% comfortable).
