Luminate’s 2023 year-end report just released (Jan. 10), shows some big numbers. GRAB THE REPORT HERE

The global music industry surpassed 4 trillion streams in 2023, a new single-year record.

Global streams were also up 34% from last year, reflective of an increasingly international music marketplace.

On-demand song streaming — both audio and video — climbed 14.6% to 1.5 trillion streams, an improvement on the 12.2% growth in 2022 and 10% growth in 2021. On-demand audio streams from services such as Spotify and Apple Music rose 12.7% to 1.2 trillion.

In the year of Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary, hip-hop was the most popular genre in the United States with a 25.3% share of album units (album sales plus track equivalent albums plus streaming equivalent albums) — even though no hip-hop song topped the Hot 100 until Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” did it in September. Rock was No. 2 with a 19.4% share and pop was No. 3 with a 12.3% share. Country and Latin rounded out the top five with 8.4% and 6.9% shares, respectively.

 

Rock led album sales with a 41.5% share, more than triple No. 2 hip-hop’s 12.9% share and No. 3 pop’s 12.7% share. Country was No. 4 with a 7.8% share and World — mainly K-pop — was No. 5 with a 6.9% share.

158 MILLION TRACKS HAD 1,000 PLAYS OR FEWER ON MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES LAST YEAR. 45 MILLION HAD NO PLAYS AT ALL.

According to the report, 158.6 million tracks each received 1,000 or fewer plays on audio streaming services in 2023.

That’s 86.2% of the 184 million music tracks that Luminate measured on audio streaming services at the close of last year via ISRCs (International Standard Recording Codes).

Even more tellingly, a total of 45.6 million tracks received zero plays in 2023. That represents 24.8% of the 184 million tracks available on audio streaming platforms.

KEEP IN MIND: (Starting Q1 2024), Spotify will no longer pay royalties to tracks that have attracted fewer than 1,000 plays on its platform in the prior 12 months.

The 184 million audio tracks on streaming services counted by Luminate at the close of 2023 was up by 26 million vs. the 158 million tracks that Luminate measured at the close of 2022.