If Bad Bunny’s galvanizing Super Bowl Halftime Show on Feb. 8 didn’t make it crystal clear, new figures from the Recording Industry Association of America released today should: Latin music is American music (and, of course, not just American, as Bunny was the globe’s fifth-most lucrative artist last year, per the IFPI).
The genre’s revenues in the U.S. have increased dramatically over the past decade, reaching $1 billion last year, according to the RIAA’s report. (U.S. recorded music revenues overall in 2025 were $11.5 billion.) In 2015, Latin music’s U.S. revenues stood at $140 million.
According to the new figures, the segment now generates 8.8% of total U.S. recorded music revenue, another high-water mark.
The majority of those revenues, about 55%, were from paid (subscription) streaming – with total streaming revenues representing a whopping 98% of total revenue. Those figures also illustrate, in case it wasn’t clear, streaming’s complete dominance of listening – in 2015, streaming represented about 78% of Latin music’s American revenues.
Prior RIAA reports on Latin music revenues appear to have touted much higher figures – $1.4 billion in 2024, for example. Today’s report shows 2024 as generating $969 million, however; the discrepancy is due to a reporting standard newly adopted by the RIAA, which previously relied on estimated retail breakdowns. That shifted last year to “wholesale” figures, a switch meant “to align with international benchmarks and allow for more consistent cross-market comparisons that highlight the real dollars flowing back into the creative ecosystem,” an RIAA spokesperson says.
“Today’s report underscores Latin music’s strength,” Rafael Fernandez Jr., the RIAA’s senior vice president of State Public Policy and Latin Music, says in a statement. “With rising global reach and fresh pathways connecting artists and fans, this sector just keeps delivering as labels work to grow the market with innovative new partnerships and opportunities.”
See the full report here.
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