Global on-demand audio streams reached 4.1 Tn in 2023, an increase of 22.3% on 2022 according to Luminate, the entertainment data and insights company that powers Billboard Charts. Previously in their annual Luminate Year-End Music Report they have focussed on the US music market but this year there are insights on 50 markets including the US and Canada.
On-demand music streaming increased by 12.7% in the US in 2023 with 1.2 Tn streams. World, Latin and Country music genres outperformed the overall increase with 26.2%, 24.1% and 23.7% increases respectively.
During 2023 436,000 tracks were streamed 1 million or more times Globally in 2023, up from 373,500 in 2022. In total Luminate tracked 184 million Audio ISRCs (tracks) with 45.6 million receiving zero streams. A total of 79.7 million streams only received 0-10 streams during the year and a further 45.2 million streams only managed 11-100 streams in the year. This needs to be viewed alongside the fact that for the Top 500,000 US tracks in 2023, music released in the most recent 5 years makes up 48.3% of US on-demand audio streaming. This means that for the vast majority of music available on streaming platforms only artists with streams firmly at the top of the ‘streaming pyramid’ will be able to earn a living. If you want to explore the millions of tracks that have been forgotten or never discovered, there is an app called Forgotify which lets you explore Spotify’s ‘lost’ songs for example.
The report also contains charts for streaming volumes, physical media sales and radio plays broken down by artists and genres. At 1.454 Tn streams the US is the top streaming nation in 2023 followed by India with 1.037 Tn streams. The UK ranks 8th in the rankings with 204.7 Bn streams – a seventh of the US total.
The 79-page 2023 Luminate Year-End Music Report is free and can be downloaded here.
