We’re excited to present the second edition of our Year in Music report, diving into the sounds, stats, and standout trends of 2024. This year’s report expands on 2023's insights, providing a comprehensive view into key areas of the music industry — from artist development to emerging fandom dynamics and streaming trends. With data from millions of tracks and artist profiles collected since 2016, join us as we explore the defining moments of 2024 in music.

Here's a sneak peek of some of the main takeaways:

The saturation of available music is only growing 

Chartmetric now tracks 11.3 million artists, that’s a 1.7 million increase from last year. On average, 4.6k artists were added to our platform every day.

Alongside artists, a total 25.7 million tracks were ingested into the Chartmetric system in 2024, 10.5 million of which were released this year. That’s a near 30% increase from 2023. 

In terms of location, the top three countries with the highest number of artists added to our platform included the United States, United Kingdom, France, respectively. 

2024 saw over 300 breakout superstars thanks to superfans and niche communities 

This year, 308 artists broke into Chartmetric’s “Superstar” category, with an added 2.8k reaching the “Mainstream” category. 

Standing out in today’s streaming ecosystem is no easy feat, but breakout artists like Chappell Roan have demonstrated that embracing a niche can cultivate strong grassroots communities. In an era where real, intimate experiences seem to resonate more than ever, this approach appears to meet fans' evolving desires.

The symbiotic relationship between trigger cities and glocalization is alive and well 

Non-English music is thriving in Western audiences, with the United States accounting for over 10% of the global audience for K-Pop and Latin stars according to Instagram and YouTube. 

Conversely, majority-English genres such as Hip-Hop, Pop, and Rock witness major audiences in densely populated countries such as Brazil and Indonesia.

So much remains unheard on streaming platforms 

Of the 11 million Spotify profiles tracked on Chartmetric, only 1.58 million (14%) have more than 10 listeners from month to month. From this 1.58 million, 37% have more than 1,000 monthly listeners.

Radio is particularly dominated by the top majority of artists, with the top 10 artists accounting for over 18 million radio spins in 2024. 

Across platforms like Spotify, radio, TikTok, Shazam, and YouTube, there are notable consistencies in the top tracks (suggesting the bulk of listening comes from the same handful of pop songs). 

As streaming remains segmented, social platforms prove to be the unifier 

While streaming service preferences vary by region, artists in genres like K-Pop are proving that global audiences thrive most on social media platforms.

In terms of share, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and India represent the majority of audiences active on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. 

When targeting young audiences, YouTube and TikTok account for a larger share of 18 to 24 year olds, while Instagram favors those 25 to 34.