Digital music revenue in the U.S. 2008-2023, by type

In 2023, revenue from digital album downloads amounted to 204.7 million U.S. dollars, less than half the figure recorded in 2018. Meanwhile, subscription and streaming revenues have been increasing annually and reached 14.36 billion in 2023, making up the vast majority of revenues for the entire music industry.  Digital music – additional informationThe increase in digital music revenue, more specifically subscription and streaming services, may be down to the accessibility and availability of digital music. For legal downloads, consumers can pick between services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora. Of course, there are countless numbers of illegal sites which distribute digital music also. In 2019, approximately 34 percent of global internet users aged 16 to 24 admitted to accessing music through music ripping, the most popular method being copyright infringement.Digital music sales have made a huge impact on the listings of best-selling lists with digital sales either being combined with physical sales or set apart. The list of the top-selling digital songs in the United States in 2020 features artists such as The Weeknd, Tones and I, and Megan Thee Stallion. The title for the top selling digital song goes to ‘Blinding Lights’ by The Weeknd. The song sold over 372 thousand units in the United States from January to July 2020. Nevertheless, the share of the digital music market does not always directly correspond to the value of the digital market. The value of digital music singles downloads in 2018 amounted to 490.4 million U.S. dollars, which marked a drop in value from 678.5 million in 2017. The value of digital album sales also saw a decrease from 668.5 million in 2017 to 499.7 million in 2018.

至2023年，数字专辑下载的收益达到了2.047亿美元，这一数字不及2018年记录的一半。与此同时，订阅和流媒体收益逐年增长，并于2023年达到143.6亿美元，占整个音乐产业收益的绝大多数。关于数字音乐——附加信息，数字音乐收益的增长，尤其是订阅和流媒体服务的增长，可能归因于数字音乐的易获取性和可用性。对于合法下载，消费者可以选择Spotify、Apple Music和Pandora等服务平台。当然，还有无数非法网站也在分发数字音乐。2019年，大约34%的16至24岁全球互联网用户承认通过音乐抓取的方式获取音乐，其中最流行的手段是版权侵权。数字音乐销售对畅销榜单产生了巨大影响，数字销售要么与实体销售合并，要么单独列出。2020年美国最畅销的数字歌曲榜单上出现了如The Weeknd、Tones and I和Megan Thee Stallion等艺术家。最畅销的数字歌曲由The Weeknd的‘Blinding Lights’夺得，该歌曲在2020年1月至7月期间在美国的销量超过37.2万份。然而，数字音乐市场的份额并不总是与数字市场的价值直接对应。2018年数字音乐单曲下载的价值为4.904亿美元，这一数字较2017年的6.785亿美元有所下降。数字专辑销售的价值也从2017年的6.685亿美元降至2018年的4.997亿美元。