Latin Music And Physical Albums Thrive, Here Are The Latest 2024 Industry Trends

The global music industry has experienced a notable increase in streaming activity during the first half of 2024

According to Luminate's Midyear Report, over 1 trillion streams were achieved at a record pace, reaching this milestone ten days earlier compared to the previous year.

See Also: Karol G, Peso Pluma Propel US Latin Music Revenue To New Heights, Reaches $1.4B

Global streams saw a 15.1% increase, totaling 2.29 trillion on-demand audio streams, up from 1.99 trillion in the same period last year.

The Latin Music Boom

A significant contributor to the streaming boom in the U.S. is the growth of Latin music. Streaming of Latin music has risen by 15.1% compared to last year, making it the fastest-growing genre in the U.S.

This increase is driven by the popularity of recent releases. About 35% of all Latin streams in the U.S. are for albums released in the last 18 months. In contrast, 70.5% of rock music streams come from deep catalogs, with releases five years old or older.

While no Latin artists appear in the top 10 albums or songs of the year to date, artists such as Bad Bunny, Peso Pluma, Fuera Regida, Karol G, Rauw Alejandro, Aventura, and Carín León are among the top 200 most streamed in the U.S. for the first half of 2024.

Jaime Marconette, Luminate's Vice President of Music Insights and Industry Relations, emphasizes the ongoing momentum: "A huge part of that growth was driven by the continued rise of regional Mexican music, which is the largest Latin music subgenre so far this year with more than 13 billion U.S. on-demand audio streams."

While Bad Bunny remains a prominent figure in Latin music, regional Mexican acts such as Pluma, Fuerza Regida, and Junior H have also surpassed 100 million U.S. on-demand audio streams in the first half of 2024.

Physical Albums Make A Comeback

In an era dominated by streaming, physical albums are experiencing an increase in sales. Sales of physical album variants have grown steadily since 2020, with a 3.8% increase in the U.S. this year, rising to 24.7 million from 23.8 million units.

Artists leading this trend include Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Beyoncé, along with K-pop groups like Tomorrow x Together, Ateez, and TWICE.

The top 10 bestselling albums of 2024 have an average of 22 variants, comprising seven vinyl releases, 13 CDs, and two cassettes. In comparison, albums ranked between 101-500 have an average of five variants, and those ranked 501-1,000 have around four variants.

Marconette observes: "We have seen a consistent trend in recent years where albums at the top of the charts employed more and more physical variants in their album release campaigns."

However, this trend has also raised environmental concerns. "There has also been criticism within the artist and fan communities regarding the environmental impacts of producing so many physical products," Marconette added, pointing to a demand for recycled materials and sustainable practices in album production.

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Photo by Keagan Henman on Unsplash.