Latin music revenue in the United States reached an all-time high of $1.1 billion in 2022, marking the industry’s second year of double-digit growth for an annual increase of 24%. As predicted in the RIAA‘s mid-year report, that number outpaced that of any other market.
RIAA’s year-end Latin music report for 2022 also highlights an all-time high for the industry at a 6.9% market share — up from 5.9% in 2021. With such striking stats, it’s clear major labels and Latin artists have begun to engage with fans — despite language barriers — across markets to make the music more easily accessible.
This is especially true on the streaming front where revenue expanded by 25% to $1.06 billion, making up a remarkable 97% of all Latin music revenues. The Latin music scape of 2022 was undoubtedly led by Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti,” the second all-Spanish-language album to reach No. 1 on the 66-year-old Billboard 200 chart. (The first was none other than Bad Bunny’s 2020 album “El Último Tour del Mundo.”) The Puerto Rican megastar was the most-streamed artist globally on Spotify for the third year in a row with more than 18.5 billion streams.
“U.S. Latin music revenues in 2022 exceeded $1 billion for the first time and grew significantly faster than the broader industry. That sustained expansion speaks to an openness to new artists, music and ways of listening,” commented Rafael Fernandez Jr., RIAA’s senior VP of state public policy and industry relations.
Elsewhere, the report notes that Ad-supported on-demand streams (from services like YouTube, Vevo, and the free version of Spotify) increased 24% compared to the previous year, to $230 million. By comparison, this category makes up 21% of total Latin music revenues, versus the 11% total of the overall U.S. market.
The proof is in the pudding for stars like Ozuna and J. Balvin — who are tied as the artists with the most videos in YouTube’s billion-views club — and Karol G, who was crowned Vevo’s most-viewed global artist.
Although vinyl made up less than 1% of Latin music shares, the format still grew overall to $9.1 million, and CD revenues were up 60% to $3.1 million. Digital services from platforms including Pandora and SiriusXM decreased 5% to $73 million, and permanent downloads also decreased, now making up only 1% of the total revenue.
