Chartmetric’s Year in Music 2025 report reveals the trends, artists, and sounds shaping the music industry around the globe.

Music creation in 2025

Chartmetric are back with their latest Year in Music report. As always, 2025’s report details the trends that have shaped the music industry over the past year. 

In 2025, Chartmetric tracked 13 million artists and 145 million releases. That works out to be an average of 3,928 new artists and nearly 30,000 new releases every single day. That’s over 1.6 million new artists across the year. Such high numbers of new releases only indicate how music distribution is more accessible than ever thanks to platforms like RouteNote. 

When it comes to all acts, around 65% are solo artists, with 35% being groups. Most of them are males too, as 77% identify as he/him, 18% as she/her, and 5% use other pronouns.

The harsh reality of artist growth

Chartmetric ranks artists based on various measures of success, and it shows just how steep the climb is for artists releasing music today.

Among artists who started their careers in 2025:

  • 1.4 million remained ‘undiscovered’ by the year’s end
  • 36,000 reached developing status
  • 2,500 reached mid-level status
  • 764 became mainstream artists
  • 49 became superstars
  • Only 1 became legendary

Surprisingly though, 759 artists moved into the ‘superstar’ tier in 2025 overall. That’s more than triple last year’s figure of 222, and perhaps suggests the cycle for success is becoming shorter.

Breakthrough tracks were hard to come by in 2025. Only three of the top 10 most streamed tracks last year were actually released in 2025. So despite the flurry of new releases, new tracks were finding it hard to break through.

The artists leading the way

According to Chartmetric’s ranking score, these were the top 10 artists of 2025:

  1. Taylor Swift: Climbed from #2 in 2024 to #1 in 2025
  2. Justin Bieber: Climbed from #8 in 2024 to #2 in 2025
  3. Drake: Climbed from #5 in 2024 to #3 in 2025
  4. Bad Bunny: Secured #4 in 2025
  5. Bruno Mars: Climbed from #1 in 2024 to #5 in 2025
  6. Kendrick Lamar: Secured rank #6 in 2025
  7. The Weeknd: Climbed from #9 in 2024 to #7 in 2025
  8. Rihanna: Secured #8 in 2025
  9. Ed Sheeran: Secured #9 in 2025
  10. Billie Eilish: Climbed from #3 in 2024 to #10 in 2025

Reaching 1 billion streams is quicker than ever

One of the most interesting shifts in the report is how quickly songs are racing to one billion streams. Looking back, tracks released in 2015 took an average of 7.5 years to reach one billion streams. 

Fast forward to 2025, and that number has dropped over the years. Now, songs take an average of just over 6 months (197 days) to hit one billion streams. That’s a huge difference, likely driven by the growth and dominance of streaming into what it looks like today.

Examples of this are seen across three tracks released in 2025. Bad Bunny’s “DtMF”, Alex Warren’s “Ordinary”, and KPop Demon Hunters “Golden” all hit a billion streams within the same year it was released.

A look at songwriters

Chartmetric’s report also shone a light on those behind the scenes: songwriters. Typically most tracks only have one songwriting credit, including those released in 2025. However, this is typically only because of casual artists who drop a track or two.

Across all tracks released in 2025, there was an average of 2.3 songwriters per song. As you move up the charts, that number climbs quickly. Spotify’s Top 10 tracks had no-solo written songs at all, averaging 6.8 songwriters per track.

Still, big artists themselves are deeply involved. Bad Bunny had the third most songwriting credits on Spotify’s Global Top 50 with 19 credits, while Sabrina Carpenter followed joint fourth with 17 credits. 

Looking at all 2025 releases:

  • 65% of tracks had 1 songwriter
  • 25% of tracks had 2-3 songwriters
  • 7% of tracks had 4-6 songwriters
  • 1% of tracks had 7-10 songwriters
  • 0.2% of tracks had more than 10 songwriters

Shift in global tastes

Western markets don’t hold the same weight they once did. The US now accounts for 41% Chartmetric’s top 1,000 artists, down from 51% in 2020. The UK has fallen from 16% to 11%, now level with India, which surged from just 0.6% to 11% in the same period.

Other notable countries include South Korea who saw a 5x increase, and Puerto Rico who has managed to maintain 5% of Chartmetric’s top 1,000 artists.

Genre trends echo this shift. As music continues to globalize, music tastes are changing. Pop’s share of the top 1,000 artists dropped from 24% in 2020 to 17% in 2025. Hip-hop fell from 14% to 9%. Meanwhile, regional styles such as Bollywood, K-Pop, reggaeton, Brazilian funk, and corridos have surged in popularity.

What this means for the industry

There’s more music than ever, and more artists are fighting for attention. Yet, certain hits can explode in months, not years. At the same time, regional and sub-genres are growing in popularity, pushing out traditional popular genres.

Breaking through is tough. But, RouteNote is here to help. RouteNote empowers artists to get their music out there with better royalty rates and ownership of their music. Start your musical journey with RouteNote for free today.