MBW called it a year ago, and now we can say we were right: US revenues from Latin recorded music shot past the USD $1 billion mark in 2022.
According to data released today (April 12) by the RIAA, total retail revenues generated by Latin recorded music in the States came in at $1.09 billion last year, an increase of 23.8% YoY from 2021.
The numbers show Latin music continues to grow as a force in the US music scene.
Its revenue increase was considerably larger than revenue growth for the US recorded music industry as a whole, which was up 6.1% YoY in 2022, to a record high of $15.9 billion.
Latin music had a market share of 6.9% of all recorded music revenue last year (see below), an all-time high for the genre, the RIAA said, and up from 5.9% in 2021.
This represents tremendous growth in the popularity of Latin music in the States.
As recently as 2017, the genre accounted for just 3.97% of US recorded music revenue.
Latin music’s revenue from streaming alone also surpassed the $1 billion mark in 2022, and accounted for 97% of all revenue generated by Latin music in the US.
Latin music, in turn, claimed an 8% market share of total US streaming revenues last year, according to MBW calculations of RIAA data (see above).
Paid subscriptions saw the strongest revenue growth for Latin music in 2022, up 28.7% YoY to $758.3 million.
That was driven by another year of strong growth in the number of subscribers to paid streaming services, with total U.S. subscribers growing to 92 million in 2022, the RIAA said.
MBW calculations based on the latest RIAA data show that Latin music claimed a 7.4% market share of the US’s subscription/paid music streaming market in 2022 (inclusive of both premium and ‘limited tier’ subscription products).
As MBW has noted before, ad-supported on-demand streaming makes up a larger part of the Latin music market than what we see in the music market overall, and 2022 was no exception.
Ad-supported video streaming, such as YouTube, and audio streaming, such as Spotify’s free service, accounted for 21% of all Latin music streaming revenue in the US, compared to 11% for the overall recorded music market.
Revenue in this segment grew 24% YoY compared to 2021, to a total of $230 million.
MBW’s calculations, again based on RIAA data, show that Latin music’s market share of on-demand, ad-supported streaming in the US last year surpassed 12.7% (see above).
However, revenues from digital and customized radio services – think Pandora, SiriusXM and internet radio (i.e. non-on-demand) – dropped by 5% YoY, to $73 million.
That’s likely a reflection of the decline in ad rates seen among some media in 2022, and not an indication that Latin music is becoming less popular on those platforms.
And in a sign of just how intensely music listeners are switching to streaming services, permanent downloads of music files in the Latin genre fell by 15% compared to the year before, accounting for just $11.7 million of Latin music’s revenue.
However, the small but significant trend of some consumers moving back to physical music media continued in 2022.
“When Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti became the first non-English language album to ever top the Billboard 200, or Becky G, Daddy Yankee, Jhay Cortez, Karol G, Luis Miguel, Rosalia and Sofía Reyes hit the mainstream, it was clear Latin music’s hot streak was just lighting up.”
Rafael Fernandez Jr., RIAA
Latin music sales in the vinyl format grew by 67% YoY, to $9.1 million, while CD sales were up 60% YoY to $3.1 million. This means that physical music media in the Latin genre slightly outsold file downloads.
“Latin music has gone mainstream in the US, and is having a huge creative and commercial impact,” Alejandro Duque, President of Warner Music Latin America, told MBW last year.
“Latin artists will continue to account for an increasing proportion of global hits, driven by high streaming numbers in the region and by winning new fans over around the world.”
Duque added that he expects to see more and more cross-cultural collaborations “not just with Anglo stars, but with artists from all over the world. For example, there are particularly strong connections between Latin and African music that offer all sorts of exciting opportunities.”
Discussing the new figures, Rafael Fernandez Jr., RIAA’s SVP, State Public Policy & Industry Relations, said in a statement: “When Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti became the first non-English language album to ever top the Billboard 200, or Becky G, Daddy Yankee, Jhay Cortez, Karol G, Luis Miguel, Rosalia and Sofía Reyes hit the mainstream, it was clear Latin music’s hot streak was just lighting up.
“That sustained expansion speaks to an openness to new artists, music and ways of listening.”
You can download the RIAA’s full annual report about Latin music’s success in the US in 2022 through here, or see a snapshot of the key numbers below.
