Music Streams Nearly Hit 5 Trillion in 2024 With Women Pop Performers Leading the Charge

Music streaming has reached new heights in 2024, with a staggering total of 4.8 trillion streams worldwide. This milestone marks a remarkable 14% increase from the previous year's record. The data comes from Luminate's 2024 Year-End Report.

If you've noticed a surge in the amount of music you streamed this year, especially tracks by female pop artists, you're not alone.

In the United States, on-demand audio streams rose by 6.4%, accumulating a total of 1.4 trillion streams. Contemporary music is at the heart of this growth, with 79.5% of U.S. streams coming from songs released in 2010 or later. Notably, songs released between 2020 and 2024 accounted for nearly half of all streams.

While Taylor Swift, the most-streamed songwriter globally in 2024 with 12.8 billion streams, has played a significant role in this surge, she is just one of many artists shaping the music landscape this year.

Midway through the year, Luminate identified Latin music as the fastest-growing genre in the U.S., with a growth rate of 15.1%. However, trends shifted in the latter half of 2024, and pop music took the lead, followed by rock and Latin genres.

Jaime Marconette, Luminate's vice president of music insights, noted, "We observed fascinating trends within the U.S. Streaming activity has shifted, and now pop leads as the premier genre with women solo artists driving this growth. Their streams accounted for nearly two-thirds of all audio streams among the top 100 pop artists in the U.S."

The growth in pop is evident through the dominance of female artists, including:

1. Taylor Swift - 12.8 billion streams
2. Billie Eilish - 4.46 billion streams
3. Sabrina Carpenter - 3.71 billion streams
4. Ariana Grande - 3.12 billion streams
5. Olivia Rodrigo - 2.76 billion streams
6. Chappell Roan - 2.49 billion streams

This trend is reflected not only in streaming numbers but also in the global music landscape, where the top 10 streaming songs include:

1. Benson Boone – "Beautiful Things"
2. Sabrina Carpenter – "Espresso"
3. Billie Eilish – "Birds of a Father"
4. Teddy Swims – "Lose Control"
5. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars – "Die with a Smile"
6. FloyyMenor – "Gata Only"
7. Shaboozey – "A Bar Song (Tipsy)"
8. Hozier – "Too Sweet"
9. Taylor Swift – "Cruel Summer"
10. Sabrina Carpenter – "Please Please Please"

Even though pop music has surpassed Latin music as the fastest-growing genre in the U.S., Latin music continues to thrive. In 2024, regional Mexican music emerged as the largest subgenre within Latin music, overtaking Latin pop.

Marconette stated, "Latin music grew not only in volume but also in its share of total U.S. audio streaming throughout 2024. Regional Mexican music led the charge in growth among Latin subgenres." This genre includes mariachi, banda, corridos, norteño, sierreño, and more, and has become a global sensation in recent years.

In 2024, regional Mexican music garnered 28.57 billion streams, while Latin pop reached 24.09 billion streams.

Despite pop's ascendance, R&B and hip-hop maintain their dominance in overall U.S. music streaming, contributing to more than one in four streams. In 2024, rap and R&B accounted for 341.63 billion on-demand audio streams, followed by rock at 234.22 billion, pop with 165.49 billion, country at 117.58 billion, and Latin music at 113.02 billion.

music, streaming, pop