Global Music Revenues Hit a Record 31.7 Billion Dollars in 2025 as Vinyl Keeps Rising

The global music business has just closed another remarkable year. According to the latest industry figures, recorded music revenues reached a new all time high in 2025, continuing a long run of steady expansion across the world.

The numbers, published in an annual global report, paint a picture of an industry that has fully recovered from earlier turmoil. Streaming remains the engine of growth, yet older formats are enjoying a surprising second life.

A record-breaking year

In 2025, global recorded music revenues reached 31.7 billion dollars, according to the report from the industry body IFPI. That figure represents an increase of 6.4 percent compared with the previous year.

Perhaps most striking is the consistency behind the headline. This was the eleventh year in a row that the industry recorded growth, a run that underlines how firmly the sector has rebuilt itself after years of earlier decline.

Streaming still leads

At the heart of that growth sits streaming. Combining paid subscriptions and advertising supported services, streaming generated around 22 billion dollars, accounting for 69.6 percent of all recorded music revenue.

The subscriber base continues to swell as well. The number of people paying for music subscriptions reached 837 million worldwide, up from 752 million a year earlier, with paid subscriptions alone making up 52.4 percent of revenues.

The vinyl revival continues

While digital dominates, physical formats staged a notable comeback. Physical revenues rose 8.8 percent over the year, driven above all by the enduring appeal of vinyl records among collectors and casual listeners alike.

Vinyl sales climbed 13.7 percent, marking the format's nineteenth consecutive year of growth. Remarkably, physical revenue growth outpaced that of digital, something that has happened only twice in the industry's records.

Growth in every region

The good news was not confined to any single market. Revenues grew across every region of the world, with several posting double digit increases that reflect the rapid spread of streaming into new territories.

Latin America led the way with growth of 17.1 percent, followed by the Middle East and North Africa and by Sub-Saharan Africa, both at 15.2 percent. Asia was not far behind, expanding by 10.9 percent over the year.

More than record sales

Recorded music is only part of the story. Performance rights, the income earned when music is played in public spaces or broadcast, brought in 2.9 billion dollars during the year, a small rise of 0.3 percent.

Though modest, that increase marked the fifth consecutive year of growth for this revenue stream. It shows that the value of music extends well beyond individual sales and personal listening habits at home.

What it means

For artists, labels and fans, the report offers plenty of encouragement. A larger and more diverse market means more ways for music to reach listeners and more opportunities for creators to earn from their work.

The challenge now is to keep that momentum going. With streaming maturing in established markets, much of the future growth is expected to come from emerging regions and from formats that blend the old with the new.