Every March the Recording Industry Association of America publishes one page of numbers on American recorded music: how much it earned, from which formats, and how that changed. Every September it publishes the same table for the first half of the year. The two most recent tables are below, along with the arithmetic the headlines skip.
The short version
- 2025 was a record: $11.54 billion, up 3.1% from 2024, per the RIAA 2025 Year-End Revenue Report. The figures are wholesale, what labels and distributors receive.
- Streaming is 82% of the business ($9.47 billion). Paid subscriptions alone are 55% ($6.38 billion).
- The average premium subscription account was worth about $55 a year, or about $4.60 a month, at wholesale. That is our calculation: $5,881.1 million from 106.5 million accounts.
- Vinyl passed $1 billion ($1.04 billion, up 9.3%), its 19th straight year of growth. It earned 3.3 times as much as CDs.
- The first half of 2026 grew faster: +6.9%, to $5.97 billion, per the RIAA 2026 Mid-Year Report. CD revenue rose 58.6% and vinyl 17.7%. Physical formats are 12% of revenue but produced about 39% of the growth.
Where the money came from in 2025
| Category (US wholesale, $ millions) | 2024 | 2025 | Change | Share of 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid subscriptions, premium | 5,506.5 | 5,881.1 | +6.8% | 51.0% |
| Paid subscriptions, limited tier | 518.7 | 495.2 | −4.5% | 4.3% |
| Free (ad-supported) streaming | 1,799.5 | 1,789.3 | −0.6% | 15.5% |
| Other streaming (digital radio, SoundExchange) | 1,360.5 | 1,309.0 | −3.8% | 11.3% |
| Total streaming | 9,185.2 | 9,474.5 | +3.1% | 82.1% |
| Downloads and other digital | 274.8 | 272.6 | −0.8% | 2.4% |
| Vinyl | 954.4 | 1,042.9 | +9.3% | 9.0% |
| CD | 338.9 | 312.4 | −7.8% | 2.7% |
| Other physical | 22.1 | 25.8 | +16.5% | 0.2% |
| Total physical | 1,315.5 | 1,381.0 | +5.0% | 12.0% |
| Synchronization | 412.6 | 407.1 | −1.3% | 3.5% |
| Total | 11,188.1 | 11,535.3 | +3.1% | 100% |
Source: RIAA 2025 Year-End Revenue Report. Shares are our calculation. Category definitions are in the RIAA US sales database. “Other streaming” combines statutory digital radio payments (SoundExchange distributions) with similar direct deals.
Three things in this table matter more than the headline record.
1. Only paid subscriptions really grew. Premium subscriptions added $374.6 million. Total revenue grew $347.2 million. Every other streaming line fell: the limited tier, free streaming and digital radio. Without growth in premium subscriptions, US recorded music would have shrunk in 2025. The growth came from more accounts (106.5 million, up 6.5%) more than from higher prices, since value per account rose only about 0.3%.
2. Ad-supported streaming has flattened. Free streaming, which includes social video platforms and free tiers, earned $1.79 billion. That is about 28 cents for every dollar paid subscriptions earned, and it slipped slightly. Fans who won’t pay are not becoming more valuable.
3. Vinyl is the biggest format outside streaming. At $1.04 billion it out-earned sync, CDs and downloads combined ($992 million). The RIAA notes US vinyl is nearly half of global vinyl revenue.
Per unit: what a subscriber, an LP and a CD are worth
The RIAA publishes units alongside dollars for subscriptions, vinyl and CDs. Dividing one by the other gives the average wholesale value per unit:
| Unit | 2025 revenue | 2025 units | Wholesale value per unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium subscription account (per year) | $5,881.1M | 106.5M | $55.22 (about $4.60/month) |
| Vinyl LP | $1,042.9M | 46.8M | $22.28 |
| CD | $312.4M | 29.5M | $10.59 |
Our calculation from RIAA figures. Wholesale value is what the label side receives, not the shelf price.
So a year of one premium streaming account is worth about the same to the US record business as two and a half vinyl LPs, or five CDs. That is why labels push both at once. Subscriptions are the base, and vinyl is the highest-value purchase a fan can make in recorded music. For how that money then reaches artists, see how artists actually get paid in 2026.
The first half of 2026: physical formats come back
| Category (US wholesale, $ millions) | 1H 2025 | 1H 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid subscriptions, premium | 2,888.4 | 3,112.6 | +7.8% |
| Paid subscriptions, limited tier | 262.8 | 239.1 | −9.0% |
| Free (ad-supported) streaming | 867.5 | 899.6 | +3.7% |
| Other streaming | 652.9 | 639.4 | −2.1% |
| Total streaming | 4,671.6 | 4,890.7 | +4.7% |
| Downloads and other digital | 138.6 | 121.0 | −12.7% |
| Vinyl | 461.9 | 543.8 | +17.7% |
| CD | 107.9 | 171.1 | +58.6% |
| Other physical | 11.4 | 16.5 | +44.9% |
| Total physical | 581.2 | 731.5 | +25.9% |
| Synchronization | 196.0 | 231.8 | +18.2% |
| Total | 5,587.4 | 5,974.9 | +6.9% |
Source: RIAA 2026 Mid-Year Revenue Report.
Total revenue rose $387.5 million in the first half of 2026. Streaming supplied $219.1 million of that (57%). Physical formats supplied $150.3 million (39%), with vinyl at $81.9 million and CDs at $63.2 million. Sync added $35.8 million and downloads fell $17.6 million.
The CD number is the surprise. After falling 7.8% across 2025, CD revenue rose 58.6% in six months, on 17.5 million units, up 45.7%. Revenue grew faster than units, so the average wholesale value of a CD sold rose from about $8.99 to $9.78. Vinyl went the other way: units grew 20.9% and revenue 17.7%, so the average LP fetched slightly less ($20.52, against $21.00). The RIAA’s report doesn’t break out what drove the CD jump, so we won’t guess. For the scale of this year’s biggest release weeks, see every Billboard 200 No. 1 of 2026. One half-year is not a trend. We’d wait for the full-year report before calling it a CD comeback.
We cover why physical formats keep growing in an era of streaming in The Vinyl Paradox.
A note on wholesale vs. retail
RIAA reports used to estimate retail value, what consumers paid. The current reports use wholesale value, “to align with global reporting standards,” as the 2025 report puts it. Wholesale numbers are lower, so don’t compare these totals with older retail-based RIAA headlines, which reported higher totals. Use the RIAA database, which restates the history on the same basis.
Method
- Source tables. The two RIAA PDFs linked above, transcribed in full. All dollar figures are US wholesale, in millions, net after returns.
- Our calculations. Shares of total, value per unit (revenue ÷ units), dollar changes and each category’s share of total growth. These are simple arithmetic on the RIAA figures and are labelled as ours wherever they appear.
- Scope. Recorded music only: no concert revenue (see the highest-grossing tours), music publishing or merchandise.
Last updated: October 28, 2026. The RIAA’s 2026 year-end report is expected in March 2027.
Frequently asked questions
How much did the US music industry make in 2025? US recorded music revenue was a record $11.54 billion in 2025 at wholesale value, up 3.1% from $11.19 billion in 2024, according to the RIAA’s 2025 Year-End Revenue Report. That covers recorded music only (streaming, physical, downloads and sync), not concerts or publishing.
How much of music revenue comes from streaming? About 82%. Streaming earned $9.47 billion of the $11.54 billion total in 2025, and $4.89 billion of $5.97 billion (81.9%) in the first half of 2026. Paid subscriptions are the largest single piece, at $6.38 billion in 2025, or 55% of all revenue.
Are CD sales going up? Yes, in 2026. RIAA’s mid-year report shows US CD revenue rose 58.6% in the first half of 2026, to $171.1 million from $107.9 million, on 17.5 million units (up 45.7%). For the full year 2025, CD revenue had fallen 7.8% to $312.4 million. Vinyl still earns far more, $543.8 million in the same half-year.
Is vinyl still growing? Yes. Vinyl revenue rose 9.3% in 2025 to $1.04 billion, the 19th straight year of growth according to the RIAA, on 46.8 million units. In the first half of 2026 it rose another 17.7%, to $543.8 million on 26.5 million units.
Why are RIAA numbers now lower than older reports? Because the RIAA now reports wholesale value rather than estimated retail value, to align with global reporting standards. Wholesale is what labels and distributors receive, which is less than what consumers pay. Compare the current reports only with other wholesale figures.
