Nielsen’s US Mid-year Music Industry Report 2018 gives a glimpse in to the music industry’s leading trends, data and insights for the first half of 2018. The music industry is still in the thick of an exciting growth spurt that led to 15-year record revenues for the major label groups in 2017 and has continued to break new consumption milestones.

The first half of 2018 saw a six-month record of over 400 billion on-demand streams, driven by record-breaking streaming volumes from artists like Drake, Post Malone, J. Cole and Cardi B. Such achievements should help explain why R&B/Hip-Hop made a big impact on radio too, accounting for 6 of the year’s 20 most-played radio songs.

Physical album sales are showing new signs of resilience too, as independent retail events like Record Store Day continue to bring music fans in droves. This year’s celebration led to the highest non-holiday sales total at independent retail since 2005, and extended vinyl’s hot streak as the format increases 19% year-to-date.

The US Mid-year Music Industry Report 2018 details all the essential learnings and includes:

  1. Industry highlights
  2. Industry moments
  3. 2018 timeline
  4. 2018 mid-year charts

To download the US Mid-year Music Industry Report 2018 , click here.