Music Streaming Hit 5 Trillion Plays in 2025 — With Some Surprising Winners

Music streaming hit a massive milestone in 2025, with 5.1 trillion global streams, setting a new single-year record. That’s a 9.6% increase compared to 2024.

The numbers come from a year-end report by Luminate, which tracks listening habits across the global music industry.

In the U.S. alone, on-demand audio streams reached 1.4 trillion, up 4.6% from the previous year.

But despite all that growth, listeners weren’t chasing new music as much as you might expect. Only 43% of U.S. on-demand streams came from songs released in the last five years, meaning older music is still doing most of the heavy lifting.

There were a few major exceptions. Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl and Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem both passed five million album-equivalent units in a single year. That figure includes both streaming and traditional sales.

When it comes to genres, rock saw the biggest growth in 2025, increasing its share of total streaming more than any other genre. Christian and gospel music followed closely behind, continuing a steady rise in popularity.

Latin music also saw strong growth, largely driven by one artist. Bad Bunny racked up 5.3 billion on-demand audio streams, accounting for more than 4% of all Latin streaming in the U.S.

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The takeaway? Streaming keeps growing, but listeners are still deeply loyal to older music — with a few massive stars continuing to break through the noise.