Luminate Midyear Report Shows Streaming Growth, Latin and Country Rise, AI Tracks Spike, Netflix Dominates Originals

On July 15, 2026, Luminate Data released its Midyear Report, confirming that music streaming is expanding faster than ever and that genre dynamics are shifting.

The report records 2.8 trillion global on‑demand audio streams in the first half of 2026—an increase of 10 % from the 2.5 trillion streams logged in the same period last year. In the United States, on‑demand audio song streams rose to 732.7 billion, up from 696.6 billion in 2025 and 665.8 billion in 2024.

R&B/hip‑hop remains the most streamed genre in the U.S., but its share of album‑equivalent consumption has fallen from 41 % in 2023 to 30 % in 2026. According to Luminate’s vice president of music insights, Jaime Marconette, the genre’s “standalone audio volume has dipped 1.7 % so far in 2026 compared to last year.” R&B/hip‑hop streams totalled 180.3 billion in the first half of 2026, followed by rock (137.2 billion), pop (87.8 billion), country (63.8 billion) and Latin (63 billion).

Latin music is gaining ground in the U.S. and worldwide. In the first half of 2026, 9.4 % of all U.S. streams were in Spanish, the highest share recorded to date. English‑language consumption fell to 87.1 %. Luminate notes that “casual U.S. listenership of Latin music has hit an all‑time high, with 54 % of listeners now engaging with the genre.” Globally, Latin streams reached 363.2 billion, up from 335.3 billion the previous year.

Country music also shows growth, especially among younger, streaming‑forward audiences. The top U.S. albums of the year so far include Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem (2.035 million album‑equivalent units), Ella Langley’s Dandelion (1.638 million) and Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos (1.543 million). Langley’s success illustrates the expanding country listenership.

A small number of AI‑generated tracks are creating temporary spikes in streaming activity. Chill77, Unjaps and Mikeeysmind’s “Papaoutai (Afro Soul)” accumulated 210.7 million streams outside the U.S. and 17.6 million in the U.S. The Second Voice’s “Let Me Be” logged 75.6 million streams worldwide (10.1 million in the U.S.). The most streamed AI‑generated song in the U.S. is Breaking Rust’s “Livin’ on Borrowed Time,” with 19 million streams; the track was produced using a model trained on the style of Grammy‑nominated country artist Blanco Brown.

In the U.S. film and TV market, Netflix continues to dominate original content viewing. The platform accounted for 57 % of all original content viewing time, followed by Prime Video (11 %), Hulu and Paramount (7 % each), Peacock and Apple (5 % each), HBO Max (4 %) and Disney+ (2 %). Total original content viewing reached 13.6 billion hours, with original TV series contributing 11.5 billion hours and original movies 2.8 billion.

Netflix’s most streamed original films in the first half of 2026 are The Crash (39.6 million views), The Rip (39.5 million) and Apex (37.3 million). For original series, HBO Max’s The Pitt leads with 19.4 billion streams, followed by Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer (16.9 billion) and Bridgerton (14 billion).

Despite the strength of originals, U.S. viewers still prefer library content. Library TV accounts for 42.2 billion hours, and library film for 10.8 billion, compared with 11.5 billion hours of original TV and 2.1 billion hours of original film. Luminate estimates that major streaming services host nearly 19,000 library titles versus about 7,000 originals.

The 2026 Midyear Report therefore paints a picture of a music market that is larger, more diverse and increasingly influenced by AI‑generated content, while the U.S. streaming video market remains dominated by Netflix’s original programming but still heavily weighted toward library titles.