Contents
- Music listening time statistics: Global weekly listening averages
- Music listening time statistics: Country-level weekly listening hours
- Music listening time statistics: Listening across ages and formats
- Music listening time statistics: Weekly time by listening format
- Sources
Music listening time statistics: Global weekly listening averages
Two IFPI survey snapshots put reported music listening at roughly 20 hours per week. The 2023 Engaging with Music report recorded 20.7 hours for its core 18-country sample. The 2022 report recorded 20.1 hours in its global snapshot and said that was up from 18.4 hours in 2021.
These figures describe survey respondents’ reported time, not a continuous measurement of every person’s listening. The samples and country coverage matter when comparing years: IFPI’s 2023 global figure uses a core 18-country sample, with representative online-population samples aged 16–64. Additional country-focus territories, sampled at ages 16–44, are excluded from that global figure. For the 2022 comparison, the report says the 2021 global measure covered 19 countries and the 2022 comparison used those countries excluding Russia. The change is useful context, but the different coverage means it should not be read as a perfectly like-for-like national time series.
Sources: IFPI, Engaging with Music 2023, pp. 3–4; IFPI, Engaging with Music 2022, pp. 3–4.
Music listening time statistics: Country-level weekly listening hours
IFPI’s 2023 country-focus panels reported weekly listening above the 20.7-hour core-sample figure in each of the selected markets below. Those panels represent people aged 16–44, so they are not directly equivalent to the broader-age core 18-country measure.
| Country or territory | Reported hours per week | Survey scope |
|---|---|---|
| China | 27.9 | Ages 16–44, 2023 |
| India | 24.4 | Ages 16–44, 2023 |
| Indonesia | 28.3 | Ages 16–44, 2023 |
| Nigeria | 31.1 | Ages 16–44, 2023 |
| Philippines | 28.3 | Ages 16–44, 2023 |
| Saudi Arabia | 27.2 | Ages 16–44, 2023 |
| United Arab Emirates | 28.7 | Ages 16–44, 2023 |
| Vietnam | 27.7 | Ages 16–44, 2023 |
Within this selected group, Nigeria has the highest reported figure at 31.1 hours, and India the lowest at 24.4. This is a comparison among country-focus samples, not a ranking of every country or an explanation for why listening differs. IFPI’s 2022 China country-focus panel reported 28.3 hours for ages 16–44, compared with 27.9 in its 2023 panel. The two survey years offer a point of comparison for China, but the figures remain self-reported survey estimates.
Other sources provide additional country-specific reference points with different populations and reporting periods. India’s 2022 Digital Music Study reported an average of 25.7 hours a week among 4,000 Indian internet users aged 16–44, with fieldwork in July and August 2022. FIMI’s 2025 report says people in Italy listened to an average of 21.9 hours per week; its section discusses music consumption in 2024. These are not directly comparable with each other or the IFPI core global figure because their populations and study designs differ.
Sources: IFPI, Engaging with Music 2023, pp. 3, 13–16; IFPI, Engaging with Music 2022, pp. 3, 14; Digital Music Study Report 2022, pp. 10, 21; FIMI Report 2025, p. 17.
Music listening time statistics: Listening across ages and formats
The available age-related evidence is limited. India’s 2022 study says paid audio-streaming consumption was highest among respondents aged 25–34, but it does not give a numerical weekly duration for that age group in the cited finding. The study reports an overall paid-audio-streaming average of 4.3 hours per week in 2022, up from 3.3 hours in 2021, among surveyed internet users aged 16–44. That overall trend does not establish how much any particular age group listened.
The same report says all age groups averaged 4.8 hours per week on video streaming. Its wording does not supply separate numerical averages for each group, so the figure is best treated as a shared overall statement rather than an age-by-age comparison.
Sources: Digital Music Study Report 2022, pp. 11, 21.
Music listening time statistics: Weekly time by listening format
The India study offers a detailed view of how respondents aged 16–44 divided weekly music-listening time across formats in 2022. Audio streaming—defined in the report to include subscription and ad-supported audio—accounted for 25.8%, or 6.7 hours per week. That total is larger than either component on its own: subscription audio streaming represented 4.3 hours (16.6%), while ad-supported audio streaming represented 2.4 hours (9.2%).
| Format | Hours per week | Share of weekly listening time |
|---|---|---|
| Audio streaming, combined | 6.7 | 25.8% |
| Video streaming | 4.8 | 18.8% |
| Short-form video | 3.8 | 14.8% |
| Subscription audio streaming | 4.3 | 16.6% |
| Ad-supported audio streaming | 2.4 | 9.2% |
| Social media | 2.5 | 9.6% |
| Radio | 1.3 | 4.9% |
| Purchased music | 1.9 | 7.3% |
| Live music | 1.5 | 5.9% |
| Piracy | 2.0 | 7.7% |
| Other | 1.4 | 5.3% |
The table reproduces the report’s categories. The combined audio-streaming figure overlaps with its subscription and ad-supported components, so those rows should not be added together. The other format categories are reported separately in the figure. Video streaming (4.8 hours) was the second-largest single category listed, followed by short-form video (3.8 hours). This describes time allocation in the study’s India sample; it should not be generalized to all listeners or treated as a measure of format use in other countries.
Source: Digital Music Study Report 2022, p. 21.