Canadian music fans are streaming and buying physical records at a steady clip, keeping pace with a global entertainment ecosystem that is becoming increasingly diverse, genre-fluid, and tied to film and television.
According to Luminate’s 2026 Midyear Report, total album consumption in Canada rose 3.2% during the first half of 2026, climbing to 74.2 million album-equivalent units, up from 71.9 million during the same period in 2025.
The momentum was led by digital listening, with Canadian On-Demand Audio song streams growing 3.6% year-over-year to reach 77.4 billion streams, up from 74.7 billion in the first half of 2025. Physical music sales in Canada – including vinyl LPs, CDs, and cassettes – also saw steady gains, rising 4.2% to 1.7 million units.
The Canadian data highlights broader industry shifts, including the resurgence of physical CD formats. Global CD sales surged 16% to 16.3 million units, outperforming vinyl’s modest 2.4% growth. Much of that spike was fueled by K-pop releases – specifically BTS’ album ARIRANG. Non-K-pop CD sales still grew a healthy 6.7%. Luminate says the CD revival coincides with 60% of Gen Z listeners reporting that they primarily listen to music from the 1990s or earlier, up dramatically from 18% in 2021.
The report also affirms that there’s been a genre re-alignment on the music charts with R&B/Hip-Hop’s dominance on the Billboard 200 album charts falling to 30% in the first half of the year – down from 41% from the same period in 2023. Pop, Country, Rock, Dance/Electronic, and Latin music captured that market share, according to the report, with Latin music, in particular, reaching a historic high of 2.74 billion weekly streams in February, following Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance. English-language music also fell to a new low of 87.1% of top U.S. streams, while Spanish-language tracks hit record highs at 9.4%.
This is the first Luminate Midyear Report to combine Music and Film & TV. Luminate CEO Rob Jonas said the music industry wants a clearer read on streaming television and theatrical performance, while film and TV companies are asking for the reverse.
He said the clearest proof the two businesses are converging sits in their documentary data, which shows that music documentaries are driving massive streaming spikes for music catalogues. By example, Netflix’s documentary The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel drove an 11% bump in U.S. audio streams for the band and an eight per cent increase globally the week it premiered.
“Read together rather than apart, these numbers describe one combined industry, where an artist’s chart trajectory or Export Power Ranking can be inextricably linked to how a documentary about the artist performs on streaming or at the box office,” said Jonas.
Additional findings include that new broadcast series are still generating significant engagement, with viewership for CBS’ Marshals and Tracker, eclipsing that of Season 2 of HBO hit, The Pitt.
Luminate also finds that Netflix’s foray into podcasts has gotten off to a slow start.
“A rough estimate would place The Breakfast Club’s daily Netflix audience at less than 2,000,” the report stated. “It seems this attempt is meeting a somewhat muted reception.”
