Global recorded music revenue reached $31.7 billion in 2025, up 6.4%. We break down the numbers from the IFPI Global Music Report 2026.
IFPI has published the Global Music Report 2026, the main annual report on the state of the global recorded music industry. The headline result: global revenue crossed $30 billion for the first time.
$31.7 billion — that's what the global recorded music industry earned in 2025. Growth for the year: +6.4%, up from +4.7% in 2024. This is the eleventh consecutive year of growth.
Where the money comes from
1. Streaming — 69.6% of the market, over $22 billion, +7.7%. Paid subscriptions account for 62.4% of global revenue, 837 million subscribers (+8.8%). Ad-supported streaming — 7.1% of the market, +4.3%.
2. Physical formats — 16.6% of the market ($5.3 billion), +8.0% after a 3% decline in 2024. Vinyl is growing for its 19th consecutive year (+13.7%), CD — +3.7%.
3. Performance rights — 9.3% of the market, $2.9 billion, +0.3%, a fifth consecutive year of growth.
4. Synchronisation (music in film, ads, games) — 2.0% of the market, $641 million, first decline in four years, -2.0%.
5. Downloads and other digital — 2.5% of the market, falling for the 13th consecutive year, -5.0%.
Where the market is growing
Every region posted growth in 2025. Latin America grew fastest (+17.1%, its 16th consecutive year of growth), while Asia added +10.9%, driven largely by China, which overtook Germany to become the world's 4th largest market (+20.1%, the fastest among the top 20). Europe grew +5.6% and accounts for 30.4% of global revenue. The rest — MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, the US and Canada — were up too, at rates between +3.5% and +15.2%.
The global top 10: the US, Japan, the UK, China, Germany, France, South Korea, Brazil, Canada, Mexico.
How much labels invest in artists
In 2024, labels invested $8.1 billion in finding, developing and promoting artists — A&R and marketing combined, 30% of labels' total annual revenue.
The share of revenue artists receive from record companies rose to 35.5% in 2025 (compared with 31% in 2016).
IFPI's policy: copyright and AI
IFPI's 2026 policy manifesto rests on five points: copyright as the foundation for investment, avoiding unnecessary market regulation, developing music and AI exclusively through voluntary licensing deals (with AI developers required to disclose what content they used for training), establishing effective public performance rights where they aren't yet fully in place, and tackling streaming fraud.
On public performance rights, IFPI put it directly:
"There are countries where full broadcast and public performance rights are not granted or where they are not properly implemented. Governments must fully establish these rights... to reflect the true market value of music."
Our take
Read the $31.7 billion figure as a nominal number, not adjusted for inflation, and as revenue for labels and record producers only, not the authorship side, which is counted separately. What matters more to us: the market has now grown for eleven consecutive years, and recognition of record producers' rights keeps expanding worldwide, with IFPI itself openly calling on governments to fully establish public performance rights wherever they are not yet fully in place.