Like many other sectors, the music industry has been significantly affected by COVID-19, with the massive cancelation of live events and huge ticket sales revenue drops amid the lockdown.

With earnings from live music events shrunk to the lowest level in history, artists increasingly rely on income from streaming platforms.

According to data presented by BuyShares.co.nz, music streaming revenues are expected to hit $23bn in 2021, a 50% increase compared to pre-COVID-19 figures.

Revenues to Jump by $3.3bn in a Year, Number of Users to hit 620 Million

Even before the pandemic, the music streaming industry witnessed impressive growth, with revenues rising by a CARG of 20% year-over-year. Statista survey showed that in 2017, the unified market was worth $10.5bn. In the next two years, this figure jumped to $15.2bn.

However, last year, music streaming platforms witnessed the biggest annual revenue growth, as COVID-19 halted live events. Statistics show that revenues surged by almost 30% year-over-year and hit $19.7bn in 2020.

The ongoing lockdown is expected to continue driving a rise in music streaming consumption, with revenues growing by another $3.3bn this year. By 2025, the entire market is forecast to hit a $33.3bn value.

The Statista survey showed the number of people using music streaming platforms also surged amid the pandemic, and jumped from 425.6 million in 2019 to 626.2 million in 2021. More than 900 million people worldwide are expected to use music streaming services in the next four years.

Spotify hit 155 Million Premium Subscribers in 2020, Double than Apple Music

As the world’s largest music streaming market, the United States is expected to reach 100.7 million users and $8.7bn in revenue in 2021, a 16.6% increase in a year.

The Chinese market, the second-largest market globally, is forecast to grow by 20% YoY and hit $2.2bn value this year, almost four times less than the leading US. Nevertheless, with 177.7 million users in 2021, the country has the largest number of people using music streaming services globally.

According to Hootsuite’s Digital 2021 Report, more than 81% of surveyed internet users in China reported listening to music streaming services last year.

The United Kingdom ranked as the third-largest music streaming market with $1.4bn in revenue this year.

As the biggest music streaming service globally, Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) hit 345 million monthly active users and 155 million premium subscribers in December 2020, a 25% jump in a year.

While Apple (AAPL: NASDAQ) hasn’t publicly commented on its subscriber count since reaching 60 million in June 2019, estimates from MIDiA Research put Apple Music subscribers at 72 million in 2020, or half the Spotify count.