Global music sales grew for the 11th consecutive year in 2025, with recorded music revenues hitting an all-time high of $31.7 billion, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) Global Music Report 2026.
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The latest edition of the annual music business report, published Wednesday (March 18), highlights that gains were recorded across all regions, as record labels continue to invest in artists and new distribution models, alongside the continued rise of paid streaming.
The new figures show that subscription streaming remained the industry’s primary driver, with streaming revenues surpassing $22 billion and representing 69.6% of recorded music earnings. The IFPI reports that there are now 837 million users of paid streaming subscription accounts globally, up from 752 million tallied in the prior year’s report.
Led by a 13.7% rise in vinyl sales, physical formats saw a strong comeback in 2025, rising 8% following a 3% decline in 2024. Performance rights revenue saw slight growth of 0.3% and reached $2.9 billion, while both synch income (-2%) and downloads and other digital revenues (-5%) experienced declines during the year.
In terms of the world’s top markets, IFPI said that every region saw recorded music revenue growth in 2025, with four of them posting double-digit gains. The U.S. recorded music market held onto its long-standing No. 1 spot, growing 3.3%, compared to 2.2% in 2024. (Earlier this week, the RIAA reported wholesale growth in the U.S. market of 3.1%.)
The U.S. held a 38.7% share of total global revenues, adding more than $400 million in revenue throughout 2025. Canada, which has dropped down one place in the global rankings to be the ninth largest market in 2025, saw revenue growth of 5.6%. (IFPI’s free-to-access report does not provide full market-by-market revenue breakdowns).
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Notably, China overtook Germany to become the fourth-largest global market in 2025, with strong revenue growth of 20.1%. China has consistently recorded robust double-digit growth in recent years, rising 28.4% in 2022, 25.9% in 2023 and 9.6% in 2024. The world’s second-largest market, Japan, returned to growth in 2025 (+8.9%), while Asia overall remained the largest region for physical music in the world.
Europe retained its position as the second-largest region for music sales globally, with revenues increasing by 5.6% in 2025. The region recorded the second-highest growth rate worldwide, accounting for 30.4% of total global revenues. All three of its largest markets posted gains during the year: the UK (No. 3) grew by 4.8%; Germany (No. 5) by 1.7%; and France (No. 6) by 3.7%.
Overall, Latin America was the fastest-growing region, with revenues up by 17.1% in 2025, and two Latin American markets are now represented in the top 10: Brazil, at No. 8; and Mexico, at No. 10. Streaming accounted for 88.1% of recorded music revenues in the region.
With each of the top 10 markets globally seeing year-over-year growth, that marked an improvement over the 2024 report, where only eight of the top 10 reported gains.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) was the joint second-fastest growing region for 2025, with recorded music revenues increasing by 15.2%. The region remained dominated by streaming and those revenues accounted for 97.5% of the total. Similar to previous years, South Africa remained the largest market in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for 78.1% of the region’s revenues with growth of 12.9% in 2025.
IFPI also noted that Australasia remains outside of the top 10 global rankings. For 2025, recorded music revenues in the region reached $623 million and grew by 1.5%, while Australia increased revenues by 1.2%, but dropped down two places in the global standings to No. 13. New Zealand, meanwhile, grew recorded music revenues by 3.0% and contributed 15.2% of the region’s total revenues.
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In a statement shared with Billboard, Dr. Jo Twist OBE, chief executive of the BPI, said, “IFPI’s Global Music Report 2026 once again reflects how intensely competitive the global music market has become, with streaming having lowered barriers to entry and all parts of the world producing music which competes for fan attention.
“But despite this, and thanks to the long-term investment of our record labels at the heart of its ecosystem, the U.K. remains the world’s third-largest market for recorded music and is the biggest exporter after only the U.S., and with a new wave of exciting British talent breaking through on the global stage, we remain optimistic about British music’s ability to remain at the top.”
Taylor Swift was 2025’s biggest-selling global artist, marking her fourth consecutive year at the top spot, IFPI announced. The top five is rounded out by K-pop group Stray Kids, Drake, The Weeknd and Bad Bunny. ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” was last year’s biggest-selling global single, while Swift’s 12th studio LP, The Life of a Showgirl, led the way across all album formats.
Elsewhere in this year’s edition of the report, the IFPI pointed to how the industry is facing an increasing threat from streaming fraud. By artificially generating plays for manipulated or fake content, as a result of the growth of generative AI, streaming earnings are in some cases being redirected away from artists and rightsholders.
Manipulation is becoming both faster and more difficult for detection systems to identify, the report states. In January 2026, streaming service Deezer reported it was receiving more than 60,000 fully AI-generated tracks every day, adding that 85% of streams on all AI-generated music across the platform in 2025 were fraudulent — up 70% from the previous year.
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IFPI and its member companies say they are pursuing direct legal action against those profiting from streaming fraud. These efforts have resulted in the disruption and shutdown of manipulation services across multiple territories, including Germany, France, Norway, Brazil and Canada, with additional cases ongoing.
“Great music from incredible artists, aided by record company partnerships and investment, is driving global growth — with more people than ever before paying to engage with it on paid streaming services worldwide,” said Victoria Oakley, chief executive of IFPI, in a statement. “Importantly, this growth means even greater financial returns for artists and reinvestment into an increasingly broad range of music communities worldwide.”
She continued, “Music is embracing the future, demonstrated by record company partnerships with generative AI developers who respect the rights of creators. They are partners that explore how technology can be harnessed to support and enhance creativity, not replace it. We are asking policymakers to support this work by upholding the copyright laws that are the bedrock for this progress.
“The entire music community must take action to tackle the threats facing our industry. Streaming fraud is theft, plain and simple. The organizations with the data, scale and leverage to prevent this fraudulent activity, including streaming services, content aggregators and distributors, must take decisive action.”
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