Genoa, Italy. Photo Credit: Ryan
The Italian music industry recorded a 5.3% year-over-year stream-volume increase during 2025, when releases from homegrown talent accounted for 85% of the country’s top-100 albums.
These and other insights come from Italy’s FIMI, which pointed to a total of nearly 100 billion on-demand streams for the nation (population 59 million) during 2025. That reflects ad-supported and paid plays alike, besides marking the above-mentioned 5.3% YoY boost.
The single-digit improvement seemingly suggests slowing growth – and resembles the stream-volume upticks attributable to the UK as well as different markets for 2025. In any event, an increase is, of course, an increase.
Meanwhile, the 85% top-albums figure, though significant on its own, is especially interesting given that the same percentage stood at 69% in 2015.
Furthermore, 24 albums – including just one, Linkin Park’s Papercuts compilation, from an international act – had a “continuous presence” in the top 100 throughout the entire year.
(In an era when the album is in many ways taking a backseat to the single, also important is that 245 albums cracked 30 million streams apiece in Italy last year, compared to 125 albums that exceeded 10,000 units sold across physical and permanent downloads in 2015.)
As many know, those stats contrast the consumption particulars associated with multiple established markets, where local artists’ slipping streaming shares are fueling discussions.
And without digging too far into the multifaceted subject here, there’s an ongoing push as well to popularize domestically well-known professionals on the global stage. In short: a mixed bag, complete with calls for legislation to increase the consumption of local works and partnerships revolving around introducing releases to international fans.
Italy also stands out when it comes to the physical side, where veteran rapper Caparezza led the 2025 sales pack with Orbit Orbit.
(The 14-track effort only became available on Halloween. Unsurprisingly, in light of the full-year sales feat, the BMG project performed well out of the gate.)
Keeping the focus on physical for a moment, the Italian market’s format-specific sales shares likewise represent a noteworthy contrast. Global vinyl resurgence (and possible plateau) or not, CDs (50.7% of Italy’s physical units sold during 2025) outperformed vinyl (47.1%) last year, with cassettes having kicked in the remaining 2.2%, per FIMI.
Moreover, FIMI rattled off a number of 2025 chart accolades for Italian artists including Nicosia native Marracash, Genoa-born Olly, and Bergamo-based band Pinguini Tattici Nucleari, to name a few.
This leads to another telling Italian music industry takeaway: Per FIMI, the acts behind 2025’s top-10 albums had an average age of about 31, down from closer to 35 in 2015.
In the organization’s view, the decrease is indicative of “a scene that keeps renewing itself and looking increasingly toward the future.”
