Luminate Midyear Report 2026: R&B/Hip-Hop Falls, Dance Rises, CDs Surge 16% & More

In Luminate’s annual midyear report for 2026, a few key takeaways are apparent: R&B/hip-hop continues to lose ground, but remains the biggest streaming genre in the U.S.; dance/electronic music is on the come up; and the kids are loving CDs. 

In a time when superfans care just “as much about aesthetic ownership and direct financial support for the artist,” as Luminate puts it, physical sales continue to climb, whether it’s vinyl or CDs. But CDs in particular saw a major bump this year thanks to K-pop, which is responsible for over half the 16% rise in sales thanks to hits from BTS, ATEEZ and others. Plus, buying behavior for physical media is changing too. Now, big box retailers like Walmart and Target are seeing uplifts at the expense of indie store and e-commerce sales, likely, in part, due to in-store exclusives only available at the major chains. 

Just months after posting its Nostalgia report, the Luminate midyear figures also point to the increasing interest in catalog music, or music over 18 months old. Rock, in particular, which is the second most-streamed genre in the U.S., is dominated by older music. This suggests that it’s been a slow year for the genre creatively, but also that it continues to be a fan favorite over the long term. 

All in all, global on-demand audio streams grew 9.8% in the first half of 2026, the excluding-U.S. figure grew 11.8% and U.S.-only grew by 4.4%.