RIAA: U.S. Recorded Music Revenues Hit $5.6B in First Half of 2025 – Billboard

Streaming drives 84% of music revenue in the U.S. market. Courtesy Photo The Recording Industry Association of America announced Tuesday that U.S. recorded music revenue reached $5.6 billion across all formats in the first half of 2025, marking a modest 1% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Streaming remained the dominant force in the market, generating $4.68 billion and accounting for 84% of total revenue, with paid subscriptions leading the way — growing 6.4% to 105 million accounts and contributing $3.2 billion, a 5.7% year-over-year increase. This year, RIAA began reporting figures on a wholesale basis, which it says aligns its report with international standards like IFPI’s Global Music Report. The change aims to better reflect the actual value returned to the creative ecosystem and enable “more consistent cross-market comparisons,” the organization said. Related The reality is that the change makes it difficult to compare year over year performance for all metrics other than overall wholesale revenue. In the past, RIAA reported overall revenues in both retail and wholesale terms, then included more detailed breakdowns for streaming, digital and physical sales and SoundExchange distributions at retail values, not wholesale. This year’s report, in only showing wholesale figures, makes
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