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Audio Streams Top 2.8 T; R&B Falls, AI Hits 210 M streams

7/16/2026

45 4 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

On-demand audio streams reached 2.8 trillion in H1 2026, up from 2.5 trillion, with U.S. streams at 732.7 billion.
R&B/hip-hop share fell to 30% of U.S. album-equivalent consumption in H1 2026, down from 41% in 2023.
Latin music accounted for 9.4% of U.S. streams, while global Latin streams rose to 363.2 billion.
AI-generated song “Papaoutai (Afro Soul)” by Chill77 amassed 210.7 million streams, including 17.6 million in the U.S.

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Story summary

On-demand audio streams reached 2.8 trillion in H1 2026, up from 2.5 trillion, with U.S. streams at 732.7 billion.
R&B/hip-hop share fell to 30% of U.S. album-equivalent consumption in H1 2026, down from 41% in 2023.
Latin music accounted for 9.4% of U.S. streams, while global Latin streams rose to 363.2 billion.
AI-generated song “Papaoutai (Afro Soul)” by Chill77 amassed 210.7 million streams, including 17.6 million in the U.S.