Latin music generated USD $542.2 million in wholesale recorded music revenues in the United States in the first half of 2026.
That was up 8.6% YoY, according to the RIAA‘s mid-year US Latin revenue report, published on Friday (September 25).
The genre’s growth rate ran ahead of the 6.9% YoY rise posted by the US recorded music market as a whole in the same six months, as MBW reported on September 1.
Latin music accounted for 9.1% of total US recorded music revenue in H1 2026, up from 8.8% at the mid-point of 2025.
The RIAA said the result marked the 13th consecutive year of mid-year revenue growth for the genre in the US.
Streaming delivered 96% of Latin recorded music revenues in the period – down from 98% a year earlier, as physical and sync formats took a larger slice of a bigger pie.
Paid subscriptions grew 12.4% YoY to $308.4 million and accounted for 56.9% of all Latin recorded music revenue in the US.
Physical revenues more than tripled, rising 232.2% YoY to $14 million.
Vinyl made up nearly all of that figure, up 245.8% YoY to $13.7 million. Latin vinyl generated more revenue in the first six months of 2026 than it did across the whole of 2025.
That rate of growth ran far ahead of the wider US vinyl market, where revenues were up 17.7% YoY in the same period.
Sync revenue more than doubled, up 104.2% YoY to $3.3 million, across placements in film, TV, advertising, games, and other audiovisual productions – close to the $3.5 million the genre took from sync across all of last year.
“Latin music keeps raising the bar as more fans connect with the artists they love and discover new favorites.”
Rafael Fernandez Jr., RIAA
“Latin music keeps raising the bar as more fans connect with the artists they love and discover new favorites,” said Rafael Fernandez Jr., RIAA Senior Vice President of State Public Policy & Latin Music. “Whether your first experience is an iconic performance like Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl or Shakira & Burna Boy’s World Cup anthem, a shared playlist or passed through a friend’s vinyl collection, there are more ways than ever to uncover and enjoy Latin music.”
The physical and sync numbers reverse last year’s trend.
MBW reported in October 2025 that Latin physical revenues fell 24.9% in H1 2025, with CDs and other non-vinyl formats driving the drop. Vinyl revenue was down 10.6% YoY at $3.9 million, while sync revenue fell 2.7% YoY to $1.59 million.
That report put Latin mid-year revenues at $490.3 million, up 5.9% YoY.
The 8.6% growth rate cited in the new report implies a restated H1 2025 base of approximately $499 million – around 1.8% higher than the figure published at the time.
A gap of the same order shows up in every category for which the RIAA has published a growth rate, pointing to a restatement rather than a rounding quirk: the 12.4% paid subscription growth rate implies an H1 2025 base of roughly $274 million, against the $271.1 million reported last October. The vinyl and sync rates point the same way.
The revenue shares in the new report, however, appear to have been calculated on the old basis. Measured against the restated base implied by the 8.6% growth rate, Latin’s share at the mid-point of 2025 works out nearer 8.9% than 8.8%, making this year’s gain slightly smaller than the report suggests.
The RIAA has signaled revisions to its Latin data before. Its mid-year 2025 Latin report carried a note saying the organization was updating its public database with wholesale breakdowns, and that more than 50 years of historical data would follow.
In April, meanwhile, it moved its full-year Latin reporting onto a wholesale basis, restating 2024 revenues from $1.42 billion retail to $969.1 million wholesale.
MBW has asked the RIAA whether its H1 2025 Latin figures have been restated, and will update this story with any response.
Across the whole of 2025, Latin music generated $1.009 billion in US wholesale recorded music revenues, up 4.2% YoY, as MBW reported in April.
That was a record 8.8% share of total US recorded music revenue, and the 10th consecutive year of growth for US Latin music, which again outpaced the wider US market.
“Today’s report underscores Latin music’s strength,” said Fernandez at the time.
Physical formats made up just 0.8% of Latin music revenue across 2025, when Latin vinyl revenue fell 18.7% YoY to $7.4 million.
Bad Bunny became the first artist to win the Album of the Year Grammy for a fully Spanish-language record, with DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. He performed at the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show a week later.
RIAA VP of Research Matt Bass also pointed to “World Cup playlists across the US” when the organization published its overall H1 2026 figures at the start of this month. Shakira and Burna Boy‘s official tournament song, Dai Dai, arrived in May, though the tournament itself ran from June 11 to July 19, with the final falling outside the reporting period.Music Business Worldwide
