Key findings:
- Two in ten Americans (21%) say they are listening to more music than a year ago.
- Gen Z accounts for a majority of the increased listeners (45%), compared with 20% of Americans overall.
- Almost six in ten (59%) of U.S. adults listening to more music discover new music through streaming service recommendations.
Music is part of life for many Americans, with 84% of U.S. adults saying music is either "very" or "fairly" important to them. New YouGov Profiles data reveals the habits of music-fans, from who is listening more to how they're discovering new music.
Two in ten American adults say they're listening to more music than a year ago
Just over two in ten U.S. adults (21%) say they're listening to more music than they did a year ago. A smaller proportion, 13%, say they're listening to less of it, while 61% say their music consumption is about the same.
So, who are the Americans whose music consumption has increased over the past year, and how do they compare with the general adult population?
Most of the Americans listening to more music than a year ago are Gen Z
At 45%, Gen Z top the group of Americans listening to more music than they did a year ago, over double their percentage of the general adult population (20%).
In comparison, older generations under-index: while 15% of those listening to music more are Gen X, they make up 24% of the population overall. The numbers are even more pronounced among Baby Boomers and above (8% versus 28%).
Americans 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 59%, tops the table among Americans listening to more music. Social media and music blogs (52%) and recommendations from friends and family (48%) make up the top three sources. Radio and music channels are cited by 43% of this group.
Soundtracks from movies or games at 40%, exploring genres and playlists at a similar proportion (39%) and concerts and live performances (25%) round out the list.
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 the US and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race.
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