List of largest recorded music markets

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Top 10 largest recorded music markets as of 2024

The world's largest recorded music markets are listed annually by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The ranking is based on the retail value (rather than units) each market generates per year; retail value generated by each market varies from year to year. As all financial data is given in US dollars, annual rates of change for all countries other than the United States are heavily influenced by exchange rate fluctuations, as well as by actual changes in revenue in local currency terms.

The information presented on this page only accounts for revenue generated from the recorded music industry (recorded music and auxiliary revenues generated by these recordings), and is not reflective of the entirety of the music industry, including sectors such as publishing, live music, etc.

The United States has remained the biggest market for recorded music in IFPI history, except in 2010 when Japan topped the list. Japan has always stayed within the top two, while the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Canada have consistently appeared among the top ten music markets throughout IFPI history. Other countries historically having appeared in the top ten include Australia, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Spain, the Netherlands, China, Mexico, and Russia.

IFPI annual data

2020–2024

List of the world's top-ten music markets during the first half of the 2020s

Country	2020 [1]		2021 [2]		2022 [3]		2023 [4]		2024 [5]
	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)
United States	1	n/a	1	n/a	1	n/a	1	n/a	1	n/a
Japan	2	n/a	2	n/a	2	n/a	2	n/a	2	n/a
United Kingdom	3	n/a	3	n/a	3	n/a	3	n/a	3	n/a
Germany	4	n/a	4	n/a	4	n/a	4	n/a	4	n/a
France	5	n/a	5	n/a	6	n/a	6	n/a	6	n/a
South Korea	6	n/a	7	n/a	7	n/a	7	n/a	7	n/a
China	7	n/a	6	n/a	5	n/a	5	n/a	5	n/a
Canada	8	n/a	8	n/a	8	n/a	8	n/a	8	n/a
Australia	9	n/a	9	n/a	10	n/a	10	n/a	Out
Netherlands	10	n/a	Out		Out		Out		Out
Italy	Out		10	n/a	Out		Out		Out
Brazil	Out		Out		9	n/a	9	n/a	9	n/a
Mexico	Out		Out		Out		Out		10	n/a

2015–2019

List of the world's top-ten music markets during the second half of the 2010s

Country	2015 [6]		2016 [7]		2017 [8]		2018 [9]		2019 [10] [11]
	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)
United States	1	4,997.3	1	5,318.2	1	5,916.1	1	n/a	1	n/a
Japan	2	2,446.7	2	2,745.9	2	2,727.5	2	n/a	2	n/a
United Kingdom	3	1,354.0	3	1,251.1	4	1,310.7	3	n/a	3	n/a
Germany	4	1,309.9	4	1,212.0	3	1,323.1	4	n/a	4	n/a
France	5	809.1	5	849.5	5	925.1	5	n/a	5	n/a
Australia	6	342.8	7	357.2	8	412.9	8	n/a	9	n/a
Canada	7	335.8	6	367.9	7	437.2	9	n/a	8	n/a
South Korea	8	281.3	8	330.1	6	494.4	6	n/a	6	n/a
Italy	9	265.5	9	263.7	Out		Out		Out
Brazil	10	247.0	Out		9	295.8	10	n/a	10	n/a
Netherlands	Out		10	243.3	Out		Out		Out
China	Out		Out		10	292.3	7	n/a	7	n/a

2010–2014

List of the world's top-ten music markets during the first half of the 2010s

Country	2010 [12]		2011 [13]		2012 [13]		2013 [14]		2014 [15]
	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)
Japan	1	4,096.9	2	4,087.7	2	4,422.0	2	3,012.0	2	2,627.9
United States	2	3,635.2	1	4,372.9	1	4,481.8	1	4,473.5	1	4,898.3
Germany	3	1,713.6	3	1,473.7	4	1,297.9	3	1,365.1	3	1,404.8
United Kingdom	4	1,388.1	4	1,433.7	3	1,325.8	4	1,303.5	4	1,334.6
France	5	999.6	5	1,002.2	5	907.6	5	956.2	5	842.8
Australia	6	408	6	475.2	6	507.4	6	430.8	6	376.1
Canada	7	343.2	7	434.0	7	453.5	7	424.1	7	342.5
Italy	8	275.4	9	239.9	9	217.5	8	238.8	10	235.2
Netherlands	9	270.2	8	240.2	10	216.3	Out		Out
Brazil	10	258.7	10	262.6	8	257.2	9	227.9	9	246.5
South Korea	Out		Out		Out		10	211.3	8	265.8

2005–2009

In 2006, Russia entered the top ten for the first time, staying for three years, with the highest rank at number 9 in both 2007 and 2008.

List of the world's top-ten music markets during the second half of the 2000s

Country	2005 [16]		2006 [17]		2007 [18]		2008 [19]		2009 [20]
	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)
United States	1	11,195	1	9,651.4	1	7,985.6	1	5,977.4	1	4,562
Japan	2	4,883.5	2	4,495.2	2	4,174.5	2	5,171.1	2	4,244.5
United Kingdom	3	3,330.4	3	3,051.1	3	2,696.4	4	2,274.9	4	1,730.5
Germany	4	2,146.4	4	2,029.1	4	2,142.2	3	2,370	3	1,945.8
France	5	1,940.3	5	1,661.7	5	1,471	5	1,342.5	5	1,157.5
Canada	6	708.3	6	667.8	7	561.8	7	530	7	401.6
Italy	7	639.8	8	556.9	8	493.3	8	427	9	293.8
Australia	8	637.7	7	583.6	6	564.8	6	555.3	6	456.2
Spain	9	547.1	9	464.8	Out		10	374.3	10	266.8
Netherlands	10	423.1	Out		10	385	Out		8	340.6
Russia	Out		10	405	9	418.8	9	395.2	Out

2000–2004

List of the world's top-ten music markets during the first half of the 2000s

Country	2000 [21]		2001 [22]		2002 [23]		2003 [24]		2004 [25]
	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)
United States	1	14,042.0	1	13,411	1	12,325.7	1	11,847.9	1	12,153.4
Japan	2	6,496.9	2	5,253	2	4,593.3	2	4,909.7	2	5,167.8
United Kingdom	3	2,828.7	3	2,808	3	2,859.4	3	3,215.7	3	3,508.7
Germany	4	2,420.6	4	2,128	5	1,988.0	5	2,022.1	4	2,149
France	5	1,694.7	5	1,828	4	1,989.7	4	2,114.7	5	1,979.3
Canada	6	819.3	6	659	6	587.9	6	676	7	693.8
Brazil	7	724.7	Out		Out		Out		Out
Mexico	8	665.9	8	565	10	445.5	Out		Out
Spain	9	562.9	7	613	8	542.3	9	595.9	9	572.8
Australia	10	561.3	10	522	9	499.9	7	673.8	6	716.7
Italy	Out		9	524	7	554.7	8	644.6	8	652.5
Netherlands	Out		Out		Out		10	498.8	10	507.7

1995–1999

This period saw an all-time peak of Brazil's music industry, reaching retail sales of $1.4 billion in 1996 (equivalent to $2.81 billion in 2024). In 1998, the UK surpassed Germany for the first time as the world's third largest music market.

List of the world's top-ten music markets during the second half of the 1990s

Country	1995 [26]		1996 [27]		1997 [28]		1998 [29]		1999 [30] [31]
	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)
United States	1	12,100	1	12,300	1	11,906.0	1	13,193.4	1	n/a
Japan	2	7,500	2	6,800	2	6,261.7	2	6,521.0	2	n/a
Germany	3	3,200	3	3,200	3	2,836.8	4	2,832.5	4	n/a
United Kingdom	4	2,500	4	2,700	4	2,729.7	3	2,855.6	3	n/a
France	5	2,300	5	2,300	5	2,199.5	5	2,134.8	5	n/a
Brazil	Unavailable		6	1,400	6	1,199.1	6	1,055.7	7	n/a
Canada			7	912	7	977.5	7	969.3	6	n/a
Australia			8	815	8	739.1	9	606.7	8	n/a
Netherlands	n/a	716.5	9	660	9	600.1	Out		Out
Italy	n/a	582.7	10	637	Out		10	597.7	Out
Spain	n/a	557.3	Out		10	599.9	8	680.8	9	n/a
Mexico	Unavailable		Out		Out		Out		10	n/a

1990–1994

List of the world's top-ten music markets during the first half of the 1990s

Country	1990 [32]		1991		1992 [33]		1993 [34]		1994 [35]
	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)	Rank	Value ($ million)
United States	1	7,541.1	Unavailable		1	8,866.6	1	9,833.1	1	11,836.9
Japan	2	2,981.8			2	4,328.5	2	5,082.4	2	5,933.4
Germany	3	2,273.9			3	2,636.9	3	2,690.7	3	2,876.5
United Kingdom	4	2,117.5			4	1,998.2	4	1,976.0	4	2,366.4
France	5	1,665.8			5	1,935.4	5	1,848.6	5	1,923.4
Canada	Unavailable				6	861.7	6	896.8	6	975.0
Italy					7	653.8	Out		Out
Netherlands					8	647.4	7	618.8	9	629.4
Spain					9	586.7	10	493.7	Out
Australia					10	492.4	9	545.6	10	598.4
Mexico					Out		8	572.8	8	673.1
Brazil					Out		Out		7	782.5

Statistics

US

JP

UK

DE

FR

CA

AU

IT

BR

NL

KR

ES

CN

RU

MX

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Major music markets in history

List of countries by top 10 appearances (1990–2024)

Country	Geographical region	Top 10 appearances (number of years)	Latest year in the top 10	Highest rank
United States	North America	34	2024	1
Japan	Asia	34	2024	1
United Kingdom	Europe	34	2024	3
Germany	Europe	34	2024	3
France	Europe	34	2024	4
Canada	North America	32	2024	6
Australia	Oceania	31	2023	6
Italy	Europe	20	2021	7
Brazil	South America	18	2024	6
Netherlands	Europe	15	2020	7
Spain	Europe	14	2009	7
South Korea	Asia	12	2024	6
China	Asia	8	2024	5
Mexico	North America	7	2024	8
Russia	Europe / Asia	3	2008	9

See also

• Record sales

Record productionportal

References

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5. IFPI Global Music Report 2025 (PDF) (Report). London: International Federation of Phonographic Industry.
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30. https://www.hitsdailydouble.com/news/rumor-mill/us-still-buys-the-most-music
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