U.S. — Luminate released its 2026 Midyear Report on July 15, 2026, detailing shifts in U.S. music consumption and video viewing trends through the first half of the year. The report shows that while R&B and hip-hop remain the dominant streaming genre nationally, their growth has plateaued rising demand for country and Latin music, and AI-generated tracks have begun to register measurable—but not yet transformative—audience reach.

U.S. on-demand audio song streams totaled 732.7 billion in the first half of 2026, up from 696.6 billion in the same period a year earlier and 665.8 billion in early 2024, reflecting continued overall growth in music streaming. Globally, on-demand audio streams reached 2.8 trillion during the same six-month window, compared to 2.5 trillion in early 2025 and 2.29 trillion in early 2024, underscoring sustained international expansion of digital audio platforms.

R&B and hip-hop accounted for 180.3 billion U.S. streams in the first half of 2026, making the combined genre the most popular by on-demand audio share, representing nearly one in four streams. The genre also comprised 30% of U.S. album-equivalent consumption during this period. However, this marks a notable decline from 2023, when R&B and hip-hop represented 41% of album-equivalent units, and standalone audio volume for the genre fell by 1.7% compared to the first half of 2025. Rock followed as the second-most-streamed genre with 137.2 billion U.S. streams, while pop registered 87.8 billion streams.

Country and Latin music have emerged as the fastest-growing genres in the U.S. market. Country music generated 63.8 billion streams in the first half of 2026, while Latin music reached 63 billion streams. Spanish-language streams overall accounted for 9.4% of total U.S. on-demand audio plays, with English-language content making up 87.1%. According to Jaime Marconette, Luminate vice president of music insights and industry relations, “R&B/Hip-Hop remains a massive commercial force, but its historic dominance is leveling off as the streaming landscape diversifies.” She added, “The genre was an early adopter of streaming, commanding nearly 30% of U.S. audio consumption by 2022, but the post-pandemic era has seen accelerated … growth from genres like Country and Latin.”

Latin music’s reach among general U.S. audiences has expanded. “Casual U.S. listenership of Latin music has hit an all-time high, with 54% — or more than one in two music listeners — now reporting that they engage with the genre,” Marconette said. She noted that “Latin music’s cultural footprint is rapidly widening far beyond its traditional core base into the broader American mainstream.” Globally, Latin music streams totaled 363.2 billion in early 2026, up from 335.3 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Among top-performing albums, Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” led with 2.035 million album-equivalent units in the first half of 2026. Ella Langley’s debut album “Dandelion” followed with 1.638 million units, and Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” earned 1.543 million units, highlighting the commercial strength of country and Latin releases alongside hip-hop’s continued presence.

AI-generated music has begun to appear in streaming data, though its impact remains limited. Chill77, Unjaps, and Mikeeysmind’s AI-created track “Papaoutai (Afro Soul)” garnered 17.6 million U.S. streams and 210.7 million streams globally outside the U.S. The Second Voice’s AI-generated song “Let Me Be” accumulated 10.1 million U.S. streams and 75.6 million international streams. Breaking Rust’s AI-assisted track “Livin’ on Borrowed Time” reached 19 million U.S. streams and 13.4 million streams elsewhere. Marconette observed that “a small number of breakout tracks at the head of the curve can drive temporary conversational and streaming spikes,” but emphasized that “at this stage, generative tools are actively transforming creative and production workflows, but individual AI-generated tracks have yet to make a profound, long-term impact on consumption behavior.”

In video consumption, Netflix dominated original content viewing in the U.S., accounting for 57% of the 13.6 billion total hours spent watching original programming during the first half of 2026. Prime Video followed with 11%, while Hulu and Paramount each captured 7%. Peacock and Apple each held 5%, HBO Max accounted for 4%, and Disney+ trailed with 2%.

Original TV series made up 11.5 billion hours of viewing, compared to 2.8 billion hours for original movies. Netflix films “The Crash,” “The Rip,” and “Apex” each drew nearly 40 million estimated U.S. views, while HBO Max’s “The Pitt” logged 19.4 billion streams. Netflix series “The Lincoln Lawyer” and “Bridgerton” recorded 16.9 billion and 14 billion streams, respectively. Library content—older, non-original programming—remained widely consumed, with 42.2 billion hours of TV library viewing and 10.8 billion hours of film library viewing. Luminate estimates that major streaming platforms collectively offer nearly 19,000 library titles and 7,000 original titles.