According to Luminate’s year-end music report for 2024, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Sabrina Carpenter were the most-streamed U.S. pop artists of the year.
Swift led the U.S. On-Demand Audio (ODA) charts in 2024, amassing 12.8 billion streams, followed by Eilish with 4.46 billion and Carpenter with 3.71 billion. Other notable artists include Ariana Grande (3.12 billion), Olivia Rodrigo (2.76 billion), Chappell Roan (2.49 billion), Benson Boone (1.92 billion), Bruno Mars (1.74 billion), Tate McRae (1.66 billion), and Teddy Swims (1.57 billion).
Globally, Swift was also recognized as the top songwriter based on ODA streams, and her album The Tortured Poets Department was the best-selling and most-streamed album in the U.S. in 2024, with 6.955 million total album-equivalent consumption. It topped charts for total sales (physical and digital), as well as U.S. CD, vinyl, and cassette album sales.
On the global scale, Boone’s “Beautiful Things” was the top-streamed song of the year with 2.577 billion ODA streams. Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for digital song consumption and on-demand audio streams, while Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” led U.S. streams across both audio and video platforms. Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” was the most-played U.S. radio song, based on audience impressions.
Top documentaries of the year included The Greatest Night in Pop, I Am: Celine Dion, Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley, Miss Americana, and Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words.
In live music, Gen-Z was the leading generation in concert spending in 2024, surpassing millennials. In Q2 2024, Gen-Z spent 23% more on concerts than the average U.S. music listener. Luminate’s report predicts growth in electronic/dance music, Afrobeats, and indie rock events.
ODA streaming grew both globally and regionally in the U.S., with a 14% increase from 4.2 trillion streams in 2023 to 4.8 trillion in 2024. Among U.S. streams, 79.5% were from songs released since 2010, and nearly half of all U.S. ODA streams were from tracks released in the past five years. Markets outside the U.S. showed even faster growth at 17.3%.
Hip-hop remained the most-streamed genre, accounting for more than a quarter of all U.S. ODA streams, though its share declined by 2.3% from 2023. Pop was the fastest-growing genre, surpassing Latin and rock, with artists like Swift, Eilish, and Carpenter contributing to this growth.
Digital album sales saw a decrease of 9.5% in 2024, dropping from 18.6 million to 16.8 million, while physical album sales declined slightly by 1%.
On average, 99,000 songs were uploaded to streaming platforms daily in 2024, a 4.4% decrease from the previous year. Independent distribution made up 91.8% of uploads, with major labels accounting for 8.2%.
