Reggae music has gained some momentum in the United States, with the genre recording a 7% increase in On-Demand Audio streams during the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year.
According to Luminate’s 2026 Midyear Report, obtained exclusively by World Music Views, reggae generated 1.3 billion U.S. On-Demand Audio streams through the first six months of the year.
Luminate confirmed to World Music Views that its genre classifications do not separate dancehall from reggae, meaning the reported figures reflect consumption across both styles. Despite the increase, reggae is not among the 15 most-streamed genres in the U.S., where hip hop is the leader.
World Music overall comes in at No. 7 most consumed genre so far in the U.S.
The report also identifies broader shifts in music consumption, particularly the continued rise of multilingual music.
“We are witnessing a structural realignment in language and borders, demonstrating that mainstream music success is no longer anchored to a single market,” said Jaime Marconette, Luminate’s VP of Music Insights & Industry Relations.
English-language music accounted for 87.1% of U.S. on-demand audio streams, its lowest share on record, while Spanish-language music matched its historic high at 9.4%, representing nearly one in every ten streams. Music in languages outside English, Spanish and Korean also regained market share.
Globally, streaming continued its strong growth trajectory. Worldwide on-demand audio streams increased 9.8% to 2.8 trillion during the first half of 2026, while streams outside the U.S. rose 11.8% to 2 trillion.
In the U.S., overall on-demand audio streaming climbed 4.8% to 732.7 billion streams, with Dance/Electronic emerging as the year’s fastest-growing genre. R&B/Hip-Hop remained the country’s largest streaming genre, accounting for roughly one in every four audio streams.
Physical music also posted surprising gains, with U.S. CD sales jumping 16% to 16.3 million units. Even excluding K-pop releases, CD sales still increased 6.7%.
“At the halfway point in 2026, music industry benchmarks show an industry continuing to expand its global footprint, with audio streaming up nearly 10% worldwide and physical formats surging domestically,” Marconette said. “The mechanics of modern music consumption are shifting toward culture-driven growth and community engagement.”
Luminate CEO Rob Jonas said this year’s Midyear Report is the first to combine music, film and television into a single publication, reflecting how closely the entertainment sectors have become intertwined.
“This is the first Luminate Midyear Report to combine music with film and television under one cover, because the two businesses no longer live separately as they once did,” Jonas said.
The report also found that 20% of U.S. music listeners now qualify as superfans, while 54% of U.S. musicians said they have positive feelings toward generative AI tools, although Luminate noted that AI-generated songs have yet to make a significant long-term impact on listening behavior.
As of Week 3 of 2026, YouTube audio and video activity is no longer included in the Billboard charts; however, YouTube data is included in the Luminate equivalent and streaming.
