Key findings:
- One in six Britons (16%) say they are listening to more music than a year ago.
- Gen Z accounts for half of increased listeners (50%), compared with 17% of Brits overall.
- Over half (53%) of Britons listening to more music discover new music through streaming service recommendations.
Music is part of life for many Britons, with 84% of adults saying they like listening to it. New YouGov Profiles data uncovers the habits of music-fans – who is listening more and how they are discovering new music.
One in six Britons say they are listening to more music than a year ago
Around one in six British adults (16%) say they are listening to more music than they were 12 months ago, while a similar proportion (15%) say they are listening to less. Most Britons (65%), though, say the amount of music they listen to is about the same.
So, who are the Britons whose music consumption has increased over the past year, and how do they compare with British adults overall?
Half of Britons listening to more music than a year ago are Gen Z
Gen Z make up half (50%) of Britons listening to more music than a year ago, despite representing just 17% of the adult population – a substantial over-indexing. The gap is smaller with Millennials who make up 23% of those listening to more music and 27% of the population in overall.
In comparison, older generations under-index: while 16% of those listening to music more are Gen X, they make up 27% of the population overall. The numbers are even more pronounced among Baby Boomers and those older (11% versus 29%).
When it comes to gender, men over-index while women under-index. More than half (54%) of Britons listening to more music are men (while comprising 48% of British adults overall) while the reverse is true for women (46% versus 52%).
Britons listening to more music are most likely to discover new music through streaming recommendations
As far as discovering new music goes, streaming service recommendations, at 53%, tops the table among Brits listening to more music. Recommendations from friends and family (42%), social media and music blogs (41%) and radio and music channels (40%) are cited by similar proportions of this group.
A third of Brits listening to more music (33%) note exploring genres and playlists, with 31% citing soundtracks from movies or games. Concerts and live performances are new music discovery sources for 20% of Brits listening to more music.
Methodology:
YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data through rolling surveys, rather than a single limited questionnaire. Figures are drawn from responses collected between September 2025 and September 2026, using a 52-week dataset updated weekly. Data is nationally representative of adults (18+) in Great Britain and weighted by age, gender, region, education, and social grade.
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