Photo Credit: Karol G by Junta de Andalucia / CC by 2.0
Latin music turned in 5.9% year-over-year (YoY) recorded revenue growth in the U.S. during 2025’s opening half, generating $490.3 million at wholesale value, according to the RIAA.
The trade organization disclosed these and other figures in its mid-year Latin music report today. Like the wider recorded market’s previously released H1 2025 report, the newer resource swapped the long-used estimated retail value calculations for their wholesale counterpart.
Also like the older breakdown, the Latin market analysis therefore arrived at a noticeably smaller revenue total; H1 2024’s showing was restated as $463 million as opposed to last year’s initially reported $686 million.
Amid 12 years of consecutive Latin music revenue growth in the States at mid-year, that the category is fueled mainly by streaming (to the tune of an over 98% revenue contribution) isn’t exactly a secret. But evidently, straightforward subscription-price calculations or not, the methodology pivot didn’t spare on-demand listening.
All told, Latin music streaming revenue came in at $481.6 million during H1 2025, up 6.3% YoY from about $453 million, according to the report. Behind the 2025 sum, paid subs kicked in $271.1 million (up 11.2% YoY).
By now, many are well aware of streaming’s ad-supported revenue woes, which are prompting all sorts of pivots at Spotify. Apparently, Latin, despite experiencing 10.2% YoY ad-supported growth during H1 2024, isn’t exempt from the trend; free streaming revenue (formerly called ad-supported revenue) grew just 0.6% YoY to $174.1 million in H1 2025, per the RIAA.
Rounding out the streaming side, “other,” including SoundExchange distributions and more, put up $36.4 million (for a 0.5% YoY uptick) during the current year’s first two quarters, the report shows.
Permanent downloads contributed $3 million (up 7.2% YoY) overall – a larger sum than that attached to the rather narrowly defined sync ($1.59 million, down 2.7% YoY) but less than physical formats including vinyl ($4.1 million, down 24.9% YoY).
With a number as small as the latter, one high-profile project has the potential to significantly change the data. Technically, after dropping in early January, Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos didn’t receive a vinyl release until May.
(Separately, Karol G’s Tropicoqueta debuted on June 20th, or only a week and change before the H1 2025 cutoff.)
But pre-orders for an Amazon-exclusive Debí Tirar Más Fotos edition are live ahead of a scheduled January 16th ship date, or not long before the artist’s Super Bowl halftime performance. Already generating a good bit of controversy and coverage, the show will presumably drive material streaming gains for Bad Bunny and, in turn, the States’ broader Latin market.
