Is non-English language music the future of the music business? Perhaps.
The global music industry surpassed 1 trillion streams at the fastest pace, ever, in a calendar year, Luminate's 2023 Midyear Report has found. The number was reached in three months, a full month faster than 2022.
Global streams are also up 30.8% from last year, reflective of an increasingly international music marketplace.
Additionally, Luminate found that two in five — or 40% — of U.S. music listeners enjoy music in a non-English language. And a whopping 69% of U.S. music listeners enjoy music from artists originating outside of the U.S.
According to the report, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, and Arabic are the most popular languages for non-Anglophonic music among U.S. music listeners, with Latin genres and K-pop leading the charge.
“Specifically, our streaming data shows that Spanish and Korean language music are the most popular when taking a look at the top 10,000 most streamed songs (audio and video combined) during the first half of 2023,” says Jaime Marconette, Luminate's Senior Director of Music Insights & Industry Relations.
“Furthermore, Spanish-language music’s share of that top 10,000 has grown 3.6% since 2021, while English-language music’s share has dropped 4.2% in that same time.”
That is reflected in Luminate's 2023 Midyear Top Albums chart, where Bad Bunny 's spring 2022 album “Un Verano Sin Ti” still breaks the top 10 a year later (where “Top Albums” is defined by a combination of album sales, on-demand audio/visual sales, and digital track sales.) When Top Albums are defined by physical and digital sales exclusively, K-pop dominates, taking up six of the top 10 spots.
“K-pop fans are, unsurprisingly, some of the most enthusiastic fans across physical formats,” Marconette says.
Luminate found that K-pop fans are 69% more likely to purchase vinyl and 46% more likely to purchase CDs than the average U.S. music listener in the next 12 months. One in four K-pop fans have purchased a cassette in the last 12 months.
