1T On-Demand Audio Streams Reported In '22

A few years ago, in 2019, total on-demand music streams (audio and video combined) exceeded 1 trillion for the first time. Now audio streams alone have passed the trillion mark, with Luminate indicating in its US Year-End Music Report for 2022 that this milestone occurred last year for the first time, by November.

On-demand streaming consumption reached 1.3 trillion audio and video streams in 2022, up 12.2% from 2021’s 1.1 trillion. Audio streaming accounted for 1.1 trillion of this total (up 12.1%), while video on-demand song streaming grew by 12.3% to 159.7 billion.

Streaming is being driven by Gen Zers, who stream music for almost 2 hours per day, according to recent research, as streamed music now rival radio in daily usage. Indeed, Gen Zers spend 19% more time than average with music on a weekly basis, and spend 10% more money each month on music, per this latest report.

🎧Total Music Consumption Grew

Total album consumption grew again this past year, up 9.2% year-over-year, while total digital music consumption was up by 10.5%. However, digital sales fell again, with digital track sales dropping by 25.1% and digital album sales by 22.8%. Physical album sales were also down, but not to the same degree (-3.5%), with CD album sales declining by 11.6%. Vinyl LP sales continued their renaissance, climbing by 4.2%. While at just a tiny amount (440K), cassette sales rose by 28%. Rock Leads in Album Sales; R&B/Hip-Hop Tops in Streaming

In its analysis of leading genres, Nielsen reveals that:

• Rock accounted for a leading 43% of total album sales and 45.4% of physical album sales; while
• R&B/Hip-Hop represented a leading 28.6% share of on-demand streams, topping all genres for both audio (28.7% share) and video (28%) streams.

🎧2022’s Top Artists & Songs

Here are 2022’s tops of the charts in the US:

• Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti was the top album, with 3.4 billion total album-equivalent consumption
• Taylor Swift’s Midnights led the way in total (physical+digital) album sales, with 1.82 million
• Harry Styles’ “As It Was” emerged as the leading song as measured by song sales, on-demand audio streams, and on-demand video streams
• Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby” topped the charts for audio and video streams combined, at 877.3 million.
• Harry Styles’ “As It Was” had the most audio streams (609.7 million)
• Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby” led the way in on-demand video streams (561.7 million)
• Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” had the most digital song sales (436K).