Latin music grew the most among genres in the first quarter of 2025, according to Luminate’s Music Connect data concluding on April 3, and in the process it reclaimed the top spot in share growth of U.S. audio streaming.
More than 28.9 billion U.S. On-Demand Audio streams were generated in Q1 2025, which represents a +.2 share point change to lead all core genres in growth, or a 7.6% increase in volume over the same period in 2024.
The likeliest leading cause of Latin’s Q1 surge is Bad Bunny’s new album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. On top of being hailed as a creative breakthrough for the Puerto Rican artist, DTMF has already topped the Billboard 200 album chart three separate times and has yet to leave the Top 10 since its January 5 release.
The Latin genre accounted for 8.44% of all U.S. audio streaming during the first quarter. Not only is that the fourth largest genre share in volume, but it also means that more than one in every 12 U.S. song streams is Latin music.
In addition to Bad Bunny’s DTMF, two other Latin music albums released in 2024 continue to rank in the top half of the Billboard 200 (chart date 4/03/25): Tito Double P’s INCÓMODO (No. 36) and Peso Pluma’s Éxodo (No. 76). These slow-burning successes are undoubtedly helping to drive the genre growth.
Last week, the RIAA reported that the Latin music genre generated a record-breaking $1.4 billion in U.S. revenue in 2024,1 but that the growth was smaller than what was achieved in 2023 over 2022.2 A similar stat was also noted in Luminate’s 2024 Year-End Music Report, where the genre ranked third in growth for the full year after ranking first six months prior in Luminate’s 2024 Midyear Music Report published in July 2024.
However, despite a reported slowdown in revenue growth for the Latin music market in the U.S., streaming data makes it clear that the genre continues to be one of the largest growth markets for the U.S. with huge demand driven by its stars.
Source:
1Latin Music Revenue Exceeds $1 Billion for Third Straight Year, but Grows Only 6% From 2023: RIAA Report
2 RIAA reported Latin music revenue growth in 2024 was +6% (over 2023) and in 2023 it was +16% (over 2022)
