See just how significant music streaming has become with the astonishing numbers behind music streaming’s stake in the recorded music industry in the last 15 years.

It has barely been 2 decades since music streaming came into existence and it has completely transformed the way we listen to music around the world. Services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and too many more to mention have revolutionised the music industry after the internet threatened to kill the music industry. Now the world’s catalogue of music is available to us all and artists and rightsholders rightfully earn from it.

In the relatively short time since music streaming has been available it has blown up to become the primary way that most of us listen to music now. That can be seen clearly in the US, one of the biggest adopters of the new way to discover and listen to music, where streaming now accounts for 83% of their country’s recorded music revenues. Yes you read that right, it really is that huge.

To highlight how quickly streaming has grown, here is the percentage of US recorded music revenues from 2005 to 2020:

2020: 83%
2019: 80%
2018: 75%
2017: 64%
2016: 52%
2015: 35%
2014: 27%
2013: 21%
2012: 15%
2011: 9%
2010: 7%
2009: 5%
2008: 4%
2007: 3%
2006: 2%
2005: 1%

Source: RIAA