Recorded music revenue in the European Union reached €6.0 billion in 2025, an increase of 5.1% from the previous year, according to IFPI’s Music in the EU 2026 announcement, published on September 9, 2026. The organisation says the EU represented 21.3% of global recorded music revenue.
IFPI also reports that streaming accounted for approximately 66% of European recorded music revenue in 2025. Its release places the figures alongside an argument for investment in artists and enforcement of existing rules. IFPI represents the recording industry, so those policy positions should be read as the organisation’s views.
Reading the figures
These are recorded music market figures. They should not be treated as a measure of the entire entertainment economy or as a statement about what an individual musician earns. A growing aggregate market and a particular artist’s experience are different questions.
For listeners, the announcement offers a reason to look beyond a single global chart when thinking about musical activity. Our editorial view is that a market’s size becomes more interesting when paired with curiosity about the work being made inside it: the artists, languages, scenes and creative choices that a revenue total cannot describe.
What to watch next
Future reporting can examine how the market develops and whether broad growth is accompanied by different opportunities for creators. This brief summarises the published announcement; it does not independently audit IFPI’s underlying data or infer outcomes for individual artists.
Source notes
IFPI: Music in the EU 2026 announcement, September 9, 2026
News summary with separately identified editorial context. Based on the official sources linked above; no first-hand event reporting is claimed. This launch article was prepared with AI assistance. Our editorial approach.