American star Taylor Swift, South Korean group BTS, Canadian rapper-songwriter Drake, his Puerto Rican counterpart Bad Bunny and Canadian singer The Weeknd topped the global charts of the artists who generated the most revenue in 2022, according to the annual study of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) published on Tuesday 21 March.
The enthusiasm for music is undeniable. For the eighth year in a row, the world market recorded strong growth, by 9%, to reach 26.2 billion dollars (24.3 billion euros) in 2022. The years of crisis and the trough of the wave hit in 2014 (when the market fell to $13.1 billion) seems well and truly forgotten.
This comeback can be explained by the continued rise of streaming. In 2022, its market share represented two-thirds of global music revenues, including 48.3% paid subscriptions and 18.7% free offer (paid by advertising). On its own, the paid streaming offer (589 million users of subscription accounts) increased, in 2022, by more than 10% compared to the previous year, to reach 12.7 billion dollars.
Extremely rare phenomenon
Physical sales recorded a more modest increase (+4%), linked solely to the craze for vinyl (+17%), while those of CDs declined slightly. Downloads fell more significantly (−11.7%), while neighboring rights (use of recorded music by television, radio, or in public places) increased by 8.6%.
An extremely rare phenomenon, the 62 world markets studied by the IFPI have, without exception, posted an increase in 2022. In this musical geographical tectonic, China makes a breakthrough in fifth place, while Brazil returns to the top 10, ninth place. Three geographic areas are posting exceptional results, such as sub-Saharan Africa (34.7%), Latin America (+25.9%) and the Middle East and North Africa (23.8%).
The world’s leading player, the United States, after a breathtaking year in 2021, seriously slowed its growth (+ 4.8%) and for the first time crossed the threshold of 10 billion dollars in turnover. With Canada, these two countries can boast of occupying 41.6% of the global music market. Japan, on the second step of the podium, is now seriously spurred on by its large Chinese neighbor, which has seen its sales explode (by 28.4%). Britain still sits in third place, and France has been demoted to sixth.