US Recorded Music Revenue Reaches $5.6B in H1 2025, 0.9% YoY Growth

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has released its Mid-Year 2025 US Recorded Music Revenue Report.

Topline:

• Wholesale recorded music revenue reached $5.6 billion across all formats.

• This marked only a 0.9% increase YoY.

• Streaming maintained its dominance, generating $4.68 billion and accounting for 84% of total revenue.

• Physical sales dropped 5.9% YoY to $576.4 million, accounting for roughly 10% of H1 revenue, as opposed to 11.4% in the prior year period.

Physical format revenue:

• Vinyl sales totaled 22.1 million units at $457 million, down 1% from 22.3 million a year ago.

• For the fifth consecutive year, more vinyl records were shipped than CDs.

• CD sales fell 22.3%, with 11.7 million units sold, totaling $108.1 million.

• The category encompassing cassettes, CD singles, vinyl singles, DVD audio and SACD dropped 2.9% to $11.4 million.

Streaming revenue:

• Generated $4.68 billion in H1 2025, up 2.3% YoY and accounting for 84% of the market.

• Paid subscriptions grew 6.3% to $2.89 billion, with 105.3 million average subscribers.

• Paid subscriptions (non-premium) fell 0.4% to $262.7 million.

• Ad-supported on-demand streaming fell 2.9% to $875.1 million.

• Other streaming – as per Music Ally, a combination of royalties collected by SoundExchange for digital and personal radio services that use statutory licences, as well as direct deals for similar listening– fell 5.3% to $652.9 million.

• American artists made up one-third of global streams, more than the next six countries combined.

Other:

• Download sales comprised 3% of total revenue, with overall sales down 1.4% to $138.6 million.

• “Other digital,” including kiosks and music video downloads, grew 41.5% to $24.1 million.

• Sync royalties fell 7.9% to $196 million.

What they said:

• Mitch Glazier, RIAA chairman/CEO: “The number of paid subscriptions hit a historic milestone, surpassing 100 million accounts, while revenues from all formats reached $5.6 billion in the first half of 2025 – important markers that underscore music’s enduring value and demand for human artistry supported by record labels and collaborative partnerships.”