How Music Evolved in 2025: Viral Beats and Latin Heat

Music had a banner year. It innovated: TikTok dominated as a music discovery tool. It evolved: Subgenres are the new genres. It reminisced: Recession pop made a comeback. It leaned into one of its many cultures: Latin music continued its flow into the mainstream. 

With 75% of audio listening being dedicated to music, it’s there for every moment from mood improvement, to relaxation, to happiness. But music is much more than a mood booster or entertainment—it’s a recordkeeper of the current times, detailing everything from consumer trends to shifts. 

Looking back on 2025, music made its presence known tenfold. As you plan your advertising strategy for the new year, keep these music insights in mind. 

Pandora Turned 20, Celebrating Advancement and Innovation

This year, we celebrated Pandora’s 20th anniversary, marking two decades of music discovery, innovation, and expert curation. We took notes as some of this year’s biggest moments in pop culture and entertainment were felt on Pandora: +3M surge in spins for Kendrick Lamar after his Super Bowl halftime performance and 829K spins for the track “Golden” from K-Pop Demon Hunters in July. And we played a drum roll as the top four genre stations were announced: Today’s Country, Today’s Hits, 60s, 70s, and 80s Hits, and Classic Rock.  

And finally, we made a record of how listeners have stuck with us and engaged with the platform over time. Here’s a cheatsheet of some of the highlights:  

• 41M monthly listeners 

• 252M hours of listening weekly 

• 55M song likes weekly 

Pandora offers a win-win—a loyal and ad-supported audience for brands and a personalized algorithm that keeps listeners coming back. Now, cheers to the next 20 years. 

Latin Music Continues Its Reign

We’ll take a guess that Latin music made some kind of appearance in your playlists and most-played tracks this year. It was one of the most popular genres across the US, whether listeners were tuning in to corridos or bachata, or Karol G or Paco Amoroso. Leading the charge for Latin music is Bad Bunny—who first got his start on SoundCloud. Fast forward to now, he’s arguably the biggest artist of the year. From being announced as the halftime show performer for the 2026 Super Bowl, becoming the first Latin male headliner, to smashing records with his global tour, to winning Album of the Year at the 2025 Latin Grammys, he’s long since proven that mainstream appeal isn’t limited to English-language artists. 

Latin was the sixth most popular genre on Pandora this year in terms of ad hours. Brands can get in on the action by sponsoring popular stations like reggaeton, Viejitas Pero Bonitas, and El Pulso, reaching 14M, 7.3M, and 4.2M listeners respectively.

If you haven’t made diverse audiences a priority in your advertising strategy, we’ll leave you with this: As of 2023, Latinos hit $2.7T in consumption. Meanwhile, overall Hispanic consumer spending is expected to grow 1.3x faster than non-Hispanic spending between 2020 and 2030.

By speaking to multicultural listeners through music that hits home and connects them with their culture, you’re also speaking to their wallets. 

For more on the top trending genres and stations, check out our Latin music playlist here. 

TikTok Becomes a Go-to for Music Discovery

This year, how often have you heard an unfamiliar song on TikTok, prompting you to immediately look up the track or artist on a streaming audio platform? If you’re like us, the answer is too many times to count. Years ago, “TikTok-viral” wasn’t yet a phrase, but now it’s become a part of our daily vocabularies. TikTok is no longer just a social media platform but a music (and artist) discovery tool in its own right. 

From the silly, to the relatable, to the fleeting, TikTok trends spread like wildfire, and they’re frequently accompanied by a trending song or audio that enhances the content. Thanks to this shift, some of today’s biggest artists—including Olivia Rodrigo, Ice Spice, Doja Cat, and Jack Harlow—were launched into stardom with the help of the platform. In fact, this year, eight out of the 10 Billboard #1 hits went viral on TikTok first.

Here’s a look back at how TikTok and music intertwined this year: 

• KATSEYE: TikTok's Global Artist of the Year

• “Pretty Little Baby” by Connie Francis: TikTok's Track of the Year

• “Anxiety” by Doechii: TikTok's Music Trend of the Year

Subgenres Are the New Mainstream

Subgenres have officially replaced the mainstream. Artists aren’t limiting themselves to a single sound and are increasingly reinventing styles and blending genres. From corridos tumbados, to amapiano, to vinahouse, there’s no shortage of subgenres existing today. According to Luminate, alt rock leads all subgenres on on-demand audio, while regional Mexican (RMX) music follows closely behind. And while RMX is the #2 subgenre, it’s the #1 Latin subgenre in the US, seeing 1M+ monthly unique visitors (MUVs) on Pandora.

To reach subgenre-loving, alt rock-listening audiences, find them on idobi. As one of our exclusive publisher partners in the SiriusXM Streaming Network, idobi is the premier destination for alternative music. 

Nostalgic Music Resurfaces 

This year’s economy saw its ups and downs, and consumers responded with their music choices—with recession pop making a comeback. The genre is defined as pop tracks from 2007-2012 that served as auditory escapism for the recession from that period, and listeners found comfort in these tracks in 2025. In fact, we saw a 55B sum of spins for tracks released in the 2010s and a 27B sum of spins for tracks released in the 2000s.  

For a look into listeners’ nostalgic playlists, here are the top pop songs this year dating back to 2007-2012, according to Luminate: 

To reach listeners in the mood for throwback tunes, sponsor Pandora stations like 2007 Hits, 2010s Pop, and 2011 Hits. 

Stay One Step Ahead With SiriusXM Media 

2025 marks the halfway point of the decade. As we enter changing times and a new year, we know that music will be there for it all, capturing every shift and trend. As the largest audio advertising ecosystem in North America with the largest ad-supported streaming audience, we have the front-row seat and backstage pass to what’s new and what’s next in audio. 

While music moves fast, we keep up. Ready to maintain the pace? Let’s chat. 

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