Listening habits span broadcast radio, streamed music, podcasts, connected cars and smart speakers. The figures below separate UK, U.S. and worldwide measures, and distinguish participation, time, device use and industry revenue.
Key Listening Habit Statistics
The most useful headline measures are:
- 93% of UK adults listened to some form of audio in a typical week in 2025.
- 98% of UK adults aged 16–34 listened to some form of audio in a typical week in 2025.
- Around 60% of UK adults used music radio weekly in 2025.
- Around 60% of UK adults used online music services weekly in 2025.
- People aged 15–34 devoted 58% of weekly listening time to streamed music and podcasts in the UK in 2025.
- 87% of UK adults aged 15+ reached radio weekly in Q1 2025.
- UK radio listeners averaged 20.5 hours per week in Q1 2025.
- 50 million UK adults tuned into their selected radio stations in Q4 2024.
- 77% of the UK population reached digital radio weekly in Q4 2024.
- UK radio listening hours were 61% at home, 26% in a vehicle and 13% at work or elsewhere in Q4 2024.
- 70% of Americans aged 12+ had ever listened to a podcast by January 2025.
- 55% of Americans aged 12+ consumed podcasts monthly in January 2025.
- 79% of Americans aged 12+ listened to online audio monthly in January 2025.
- 40% of UK households had a smart speaker in Q1 2025.
- Live radio represented 56% of weekly listening hours on UK smart speakers in 2025.
- Global recorded-music revenue reached US$31.7 billion in 2025.
- 837 million paid music-streaming subscription accounts existed worldwide in 2025.
- Streaming represented 69.6% of global recorded-music income in 2025.
Contents
- How many people listen to audio each week
- Radio listening habits by reach, time and location
- Streaming and podcast listening trends
- Smart-speaker and connected listening habits
- Global music listening and paid-streaming trends
How Many People Listen to Audio Each Week: Listening Habit Statistics
Ofcom found that 93% of UK adults listened to some form of audio content in a typical week in 2025. Among UK adults aged 16–34, the weekly figure was 98%; these are participation measures, not duration measures.
- Music radio was used by around 60% of UK adults each week in 2025.
- Online music services were used by around 60% of UK adults each week in 2025.
- Among UK people aged 15–34, streamed music and podcasts accounted for 58% of weekly listening time in 2025.
- The comparable share for the average UK listener was 30% of weekly listening time in 2025.
- Among UK people aged 15–34, the combined streamed-music-and-podcast share increased from 40% in 2019 to 58% in 2025.
These Ofcom figures use different denominators: weekly reach measures whether people participated, while listening-time shares describe how listening time was distributed. The combined category also does not separate streamed music from podcasts. Further findings from our latest look at the UK’s media habits
Radio Listening Habit Data by Reach, Time and Location
RAJAR’s Q1 2025 measure put UK radio weekly reach among adults aged 15+ at 87%, with listeners averaging 20.5 hours of live radio per week. In Q4 2024, RAJAR reported 50 million UK adults tuning into their selected stations and 1.033 billion average weekly listening hours.
| Measure | Period | UK result |
|---|---|---|
| Radio weekly reach, adults 15+ | Q4 2024 | 87.2% |
| Radio weekly reach, adults 15+ | Q3 2024 | 88.3% |
| Average live-radio listening | Q4 2024 | 20.6 hours per listener per week |
| Digital radio weekly reach | Q4 2024 | 77% of the population aged 15+ |
| Digital listening hours | Q4 2024 | 746 million hours per average week |
The Q4 2024 weekly reach was down from 88.3% in Q3 2024, a quarter-to-quarter comparison rather than a long-term trend. RAJAR radio listening is collected in quarter-hour diary intervals with a five-minute threshold, so its definitions should not be treated as interchangeable with other audio surveys.
- In Q4 2024, 44 million UK adults aged 15+ reached radio through a digitally enabled platform each week.
- UK radio generated 1.033 billion average weekly listening hours in Q4 2024.
- In Q4 2024, smart speakers accounted for 22% of UK digital radio listening hours, while DAB accounted for 59%, websites and apps 15%, and DTV 4%.
- UK radio listening hours in Q4 2024 were 61% at home, 26% in a vehicle and 13% at work or elsewhere.
The platform percentages above are shares within digital radio listening hours, not ownership rates or shares of all listening. Location percentages describe listening hours, not unique listeners. RAJAR Data Release: Quarter 4, 2024
Streaming and Podcast Listening Habit Trends
The Infinite Dial 2025 measured U.S. respondents aged 12+ in January 2025. It found broad podcast familiarity and online-audio participation, but the survey’s ever-listened, monthly and weekly measures answer different questions.
| U.S. measure | January 2025 result |
|---|---|
| Ever listened to a podcast, age 12+ | 70% |
| Ever watched a podcast, age 12+ | 51% |
| Consumed a podcast in audio or video form | 73%, estimated at 210 million people |
| Monthly podcast consumption | 55% |
| Both listened to and watched a podcast | 48% |
| Monthly online-audio listening | 79%, estimated at 228 million people |
YouTube was used most often by 33% of U.S. weekly podcast listeners for listening to podcasts in 2025. That is a service-use measure among weekly podcast listeners, not YouTube’s share of all podcast hours.
- Monthly podcast listening reached 57% among U.S. men aged 12+ and 52% among U.S. women aged 12+ in January 2025.
- In the same survey, 88% of U.S. adults had driven or ridden in a car during the previous month.
- Among those recent drivers or riders, 40% had Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and 33% actively used one of those systems.
Edison’s survey was conducted in January 2025 among 5,020 people aged 12+ using telephone and online interviews, weighted to national population figures. The connected-car figures describe the recent-driver or recent-rider population and are not listening measures by themselves. The Infinite Dial 2025
Smart-Speaker and Connected Listening Habits
Smart-speaker ownership provides a household-level measure, while reported activities and listening-hour shares describe how owners use the devices. In Q1 2025, 40% of UK households had a smart speaker, and 81% of those smart-speaker households had at least one Amazon Echo with Alexa.
- In Q1 2025, 63% of UK smart-speaker owners used the device for music streaming.
- In Q1 2025, 58% of UK smart-speaker owners used the device to listen to radio.
- In Q1 2025, 22% used a smart speaker to get news reports, while 19% used it to control smart-home devices.
- In 2025, live radio made up 56% of weekly listening hours on UK smart speakers among adults aged 15+, compared with 35% for streamed music.
- Among UK smart-speaker users aged 15–34 in 2025, streamed music represented 63% of weekly smart-speaker listening hours and online live radio represented 29%.
Ofcom also reported that smart speakers’ share of UK at-home radio listening rose from 14% in Q1 2022 to 26% in Q1 2025. Ofcom cautions that RAJAR methodology changed after the Covid fieldwork suspension, so this comparison requires care. Media Nations 2025 – UK Report
Global Music Listening and Paid-Streaming Trends
Global recorded-music figures show the economic scale of listening formats rather than direct listening minutes. IFPI reported US$31.7 billion in worldwide recorded-music revenue in 2025, up 6.4% year over year and marking an 11th consecutive year of growth.
| Worldwide or regional industry measure | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid streaming revenue growth | 2025 | 8.8% |
| Paid subscription streaming share of global recorded-music revenue | 2025 | 52.4% |
| Paid music-streaming subscription accounts | 2025 | 837 million |
| Total streaming revenue | 2025 | More than US$22 billion |
| Streaming share of global recorded-music income | 2025 | 69.6% |
| Physical music-format revenue growth | 2025 | 8.0% |
| Vinyl revenue growth | 2025 | 13.7% |
| Performance-rights revenue | 2025 | US$2.9 billion, up 0.3% |
Accounts are not necessarily unique people or active listeners, and revenue shares are not shares of listening time. Vinyl’s 13.7% revenue growth was its 19th consecutive year of growth, but that does not establish a corresponding change in playback hours.
Regional measures show different market structures:
- Latin American music revenue grew 17.1% in 2025, its 16th consecutive year of growth, and streaming represented 88.1% of the region’s recorded-music revenue.
- Europe accounted for 30.4% of global recorded-music revenue in 2025.
- Asia accounted for 45.1% of global physical music revenue in 2025.
- Streaming represented 97.5% of recorded-music revenue in the Middle East and North Africa in 2025.
- Sub-Saharan African recorded-music revenue reached US$120 million in 2025, with South Africa representing 78.1% of the regional total.
For comparison, IFPI’s 2024 industry series reported 4.8% global recorded-music revenue growth, streaming at 69.0% of global recorded-music revenue, and 752 million paid subscription accounts at the end of 2024. These are market measures, not direct measures of listening time, and the account counts may not equal unique listeners. Global Music Report 2026: Global recorded music revenues grow 6.4% as record companies drive innovation and Industry Data