The number of music streaming subscribers globally reached 921.6 million at the end of 2025, nearing the 1 billion mark.
That is according to Midia Research, whose latest Music Subscriber Market Shares report estimates that the global subscriber count grew 10.1% YoY in 2025.
Spotify remained the largest music subscription service worldwide, holding a 31.4% share of global subscribers, according to Midia.
The 921.6 million total was up from 837.3 million a year earlier, and has nearly doubled from the 472.2 million that Midia counted at the end of 2020.
The 1 billion milestone is “now firmly in sight,” Midia said in a blog post published Monday (June 15), even as subscriber growth slowed from a year earlier.
Spotify‘s own figures put its global Premium Subscriber base at 290 million paying users at the end of 2025, up 10% year-over-year.
The company added 27 million net paying subscribers across 2025, having finished 2024 on 263 million.
Spotify‘s subscriber base has since grown to 293 million in Q1 2026.
YouTube Music was the fastest-growing global music service in percentage terms for the second year running, Midia said, ending 2025 with net additions only narrowly behind Spotify’s.
Midia put YouTube Music‘s share of global subscribers at 12.4% in 2025, up from 7.9% at the end of 2020.
“The big success story of 2025 is YouTube Music, which based on current trends is on track to overtake Apple Music and Tencent in global subscribers in 2026.”
Perry Gresham, Midia
“The big success story of 2025 is YouTube Music, which based on current trends is on track to overtake Apple Music and Tencent in global subscribers in 2026,” said Perry Gresham, Head of Data at Midia Research.
“Asia Pacific and Latin America have been vital to YouTube‘s growth.
“Market leader Spotify had the highest net subscriber additions of any DSP, strong in Latin America but also maintaining growth in Europe, contributing 85% of net additional European subscribers in 2025.”
YouTube Music overtook Spotify to become the No.1 music service in MENA, Midia said, while Spotify held its lead in the Americas and Europe.
YouTube Music is “picking up the pace” in the markets Midia sees as driving most future subscription growth, the firm said.
Tencent Music Entertainment was the second-largest service globally with a 13.8% share, ahead of Apple Music on 12.6%, according to Midia.
Apple Music‘s share has fallen from 18.4% at the end of 2020, when it ranked second behind Spotify.
Amazon Music followed in fifth place with an 8.5% share, according to Midia.
Apple Music, Amazon Music and Tencent Music all lost global share over the year, according to Midia.
Midia’s count includes standalone YouTube Music subscriptions and YouTube Premium subscribers who access the music platform, a narrower measure than YouTube‘s own headline numbers.
YouTube last reported 125 million YouTube Music and Premium subscribers globally, including trials, in March 2025.
For the fifth straight year, Latin America, Asia Pacific and the Rest of World together accounted for more than 70% of global subscriber growth, Midia said.
Latin America reached a record peak for net additions, while growth in Asia Pacific is slowing, according to the research firm.
Subscriber growth continued to outpace major-label streaming revenue, which rose 8.3%, though Midia said the gap between the two narrowed in 2025.
Tencent Music Entertainment grew its annual revenue 15.8% despite a fall in net subscriber additions, Midia added.
When TME reported its full-year 2025 results in March, it revealed that its Super VIP tier had surpassed 20 million subscribers, up from 15 million at the end of Q2 2025 and 10 million in Q3 2024.
At that time, the company reported total paying music subscribers of 127.4 million as of Q4 2025.Music Business Worldwide
