Overall music streaming in the U.S. reached 732.7 billion on-demand audio streams in the first half of 2026, an increase from 696.6 billion in the same period of 2025, according to Luminate’s 2026 Midyear Report. Globally, audio streams totaled 2.8 trillion, up from 2.5 trillion in the prior year.
While R&B/hip-hop remains the most popular genre in the U.S., accounting for nearly 1 in 4 on-demand audio streams, its dominance is being challenged. In the first half of 2026, R&B/hip-hop represented 30% of U.S. album-equivalent consumption, a decrease from 41% in 2023. The genre's standalone audio volume has dipped 1.7% in 2026 compared to the previous year.
Latin and country music are experiencing significant growth. In the U.S., nearly 1 in 10 streams in the first half of 2026 were in Spanish, representing 9.4% of total streams. Casual listenership of Latin music has hit an all-time high, with 54% of music listeners reporting engagement with the genre. Globally, Latin music streams reached 363.2 billion in the first half of 2026. Country music also saw substantial gains, with artists like Ella Langley leading the surge among younger, streaming-forward fans.
Albums reflecting this trend include Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem,” Ella Langley’s “Dandelion,” and Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”
AI-generated music is also appearing in streaming data. The most-streamed AI-generated song in the U.S. is the country track “Livin’ on Borrowed Time” by Breaking Rust, which accumulated 19 million streams in the first half of 2026. While generative tools are transforming production workflows, individual AI-generated tracks have not yet made a profound, long-term impact on consumption behavior, according to Luminate.
In film and TV streaming, Netflix continues to lead U.S. original content viewership, accounting for 57% of all original content viewing hours. Prime Video followed with 11%, while Hulu and Paramount each held 7%. Original TV series generated 11.5 billion hours of streams, and original movies accounted for 2.8 billion hours.
Netflix's original films "The Crash," "The Rip," and "Apex" were among the most streamed. For original series, HBO Max's "The Pitt" led with 19.4 billion streams, followed by Netflix's "The Lincoln Lawyer" and "Bridgerton."
Despite the growth in original content, U.S. viewers overwhelmingly stream library content (older, licensed shows and movies) over originals. Library TV accounted for 42.2 billion hours streamed in the first half of 2026, and library film had 10.8 billion hours, compared to 11.5 billion and 2.1 billion for original TV and film, respectively. Luminate estimates that nearly 19,000 library titles are available on major streaming services, versus approximately 7,000 originals.