US Recorded Music Revenue Hit $6B in H1 ’26, Per RIAA Report

Thanks to solid paid streaming growth – and double-digit revenue hikes across vinyl, CDs, and sync alike – U.S. recorded music revenue is said to have approached $6 billion during 2026’s opening half.

These and other recorded revenue figures come from the Recording Industry Association of America’s newly released H1 2026 report. According to that breakdown, which once again reflects wholesale value as opposed to estimated retail value, the U.S. music industry generated north of $5.97 billion (up 6.9% year over year) between January’s start and June’s end.

As usual, subscription streaming led the pack – to the tune of 111.1 million identified subs (up 5.5% YoY) and $3.11 billion in revenue (up 7.8% YoY). Against the backdrop of continued price increases, including a fresh round of adjustments for Spotify to kick off 2026, the latter percentage isn’t quite a surprise.

And the growth is certainly preferable to a plateau; with the likes of Apple Music and YouTube Music having subsequently upped their own prices in the States, the trend will presumably hold steady across the year’s second half as well.

Also on the streaming side, paid non-Premium (including limited-interactivity plans) contributed $239.1 million, down 9% YoY, compared to a modest 3.7% YoY uptick for “free streaming” ($899.6 million) and a 2.1% YoY dip for other streaming sources ($639.4 million).

(SoundExchange distributions, previously given a category of their own, are grouped into “other streaming.”)

Bearing those numbers in mind, permanent downloads’ long-running revenue descent carried on during H1 2026, with $121 million in across-the-board revenue (down 12.7% YoY) and double-digit declines in each sub-category save album downloads ($53.8 million, down 3% YoY).

More interestingly, the report points to a 25.9% YoY physical revenue gain to $731.5 million.

Having put its plateau concerns in the rearview – at least for now – vinyl is said to have generated $543.8 million (up 17.7% YoY) and moved 26.5 million units (up 20.9% YoY) in the U.S. during the half-year window.

CDs, for their part, posted a significant 58.6% YoY revenue spike to $171.1 million, with units sold having jumped 45.7% YoY to 17.5 million.

Finally, “other physical,” covering cassettes and more, achieved 44.9% YoY revenue growth to $16.5 million on the strength of a 73.4% YoY volume boost to 1.6 million units, according to the report.

Time will perhaps reveal precisely what’s driving physical’s noteworthy resurgence; for a bit of preliminary context, all the growth percentages are noticeably larger than the global counterparts disclosed by Universal Music and Warner Music in their latest financials.

Rounding out the H1 2026 U.S. market breakdown, even the narrowly defined sync category turned in a double-digit expansion, with revenue increasing 18.2% YoY to $231.8 million.

“As US music revenues continue to grow across formats, labels are strengthening connections between artists, fans and the platforms delivering creative work,” added RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier.

“That partnership is driving engagement in new and expanding ways to create opportunities that will lift up the entire music community for years to come,” he concluded.