Europe’s streaming subscriber penetration rates based on total paid account users. Photo Credit: International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)

Thanks in part to double-digit growth across at least 10 member countries – and an overall revenue gain exceeding that delivered by China – the European Union generated nearly $7 billion from recorded music during 2025.

These and other interesting stats come from the IFPI’s newly released “Music in the EU” 2026 report, encompassing noteworthy datapoints as well as a variety of AI and streaming fraud policy proposals.

Keeping the focus on hard numbers here, the report identifies €6 billion (currently $6.96 billion) in EU recorded music revenue for 2025, up 5.1% and $340 million/€293 million from 2024.

As mentioned, the latter figure means the EU’s year-over-year (YoY) increase topped that of China ($335 million/€289 million) from the straight revenue, not percentage growth, perspective.

And behind the total, paid streaming’s revenue spiked by $255 million/€220 million in the EU during 2025, compared to a $56 million/€48 million YoY bump for ad-supported listening and a $67 million/€58 million improvement for physical formats including vinyl, per Music in the EU.

(“Half of the Top 10 vinyl markets are EU countries, with Spain being the fastest growing in the Top 10 at +44.9%,” according to the document.)

Moreover, with country-specific breakdowns having previously pinpointed modest 2025 revenue boosts in established markets throughout Europe (and elsewhere), the IFPI analysis also explores the comparatively sizable music-space expansions attributable to different EU nations.

Just in passing, this includes a 16.1% YoY recorded revenue jump for Romania last year, followed by Slovakia and the Baltics (15.9%), Hungary (15.5%), Slovenia (14.2%), Poland and Spain (13.7%), Bulgaria (13.2%), Greece (12.7%), and Italy (10.7%), respectively.

As framed by the report, there’s plenty of room for further growth; 27% of EU residents are said to use (albeit without necessarily being the main accountholder for) music subscriptions, against 47% in the UK and 54% in the US.

Finally, that homegrown talent remains commercially prominent in EU markets isn’t a secret.

But for a bit of additional color on this front, domestic artists released an average of 53.5% (versus 46.8% for the rest of the world) of 2025’s year-end top-10 tracks in the relevant countries, with acts from other EU nations contributing another 5.2%.

All these worthwhile figures have, of course, been translating into dealmaking strategy throughout 2026. On the year, Sony Music has scooped up Germany’s Fame Recordings, France’s Spookland, and Denmark’s One Seven Music, to name some, besides the catalog of Sweden’s Sound Pollution Songs.

Furthermore, it was only late last month that the Mökkitie Records catalog owner Warner Music partnered with Austria’s Tonherd and launched Warner Records Germany with longtime WM Central Europe higher-up Lea Londa at the helm.