Spotify’s Loud & Clear Report 2026 Telugu Royalties Surge Over 120% as Indian Artist Earnings Grow 29%

Royalties generated by Indian artists on Spotify grew by 29% year-on-year in 2025, driven by contributions from every major Indian language. Telugu royalties experienced a massive surge of over 120%, while Marathi rose nearly 50% and Bengali climbed nearly 40%. Additional regional growth included Malayalam up over 30%, Hindi up nearly 30%, and Tamil up 20%. Furthermore, Haryanvi music expanded nearly 7x in streams between February 2023 and February 2026, with nearly 100 Haryanvi acts now ranking among Spotify India’s top 5,000 artists.

The data stems from Spotify’s annual Loud & Clear report, which tracks the distribution of more than $11 billion in global music royalties by Spotify in 2025, bringing the platform’s all-time total to nearly $70 billion. Globally, listeners pressed play on an Indian artist they had never heard before 12.8 billion times a 14% increase from the previous year. In total, Indian artists accumulated nearly 335 billion streams on the platform, accounting for over 20 billion hours of music. Economic gains also deepened across the board, with the number of artists earning over INR 10 million annually growing 21% year-on-year, and those earning over INR 50 million more than doubling since 2023.

Independent Artists and Global Export Milestones:
India’s creators are increasingly charting on their own terms, with independent or popular Indian music released outside film soundtracks (I-Pop) accounting for half of Spotify’s 2025 year-end top ten in India. Hits from independent acts like Aditya Rikhari, Kushagra, Anuv Jain, Faheem Abdullah, and Jasleen Royal charted alongside major film soundtracks, with Rikhari’s track “Sahiba” holding the number one spot on Spotify India for over 11 consecutive weeks.

This independent dominance extends internationally, as 11 of the top 15 songs on Spotify’s 2025 Global Impact List were artist-first releases spanning multiple languages and genres, featuring musicians like AP Dhillon, Karan Aujla, Hanumankind, Anuv Jain, and Kushagra. Overall, more than 40% of all royalties earned by Indian artists on Spotify in 2025 came from listeners outside India. Prominent international milestones included Hanumankind crossing 360 million streams with “Big Dawgs,” Anirudh Ravichander’s Tamil album Coolie crossing 100 million streams within 10 days, and the Tamil single “Aasa Kooda” by Sai Abhyankar and Sai Smriti reaching 238 million streams. Additionally, local streams of Indian female artists grew 27% year-on-year, supported by releases like Jasmine Sandlas’ album Legal Robbery and her feature on the Dhurandhar soundtrack.

Perspectives on Digital Transformation and the Creative Economy:
Speaking as a guest at the Loud & Clear India event in New Delhi, Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, highlighted the broader economic impact of this growth:

“India’s music economy reflects the extraordinary creativity, diversity and entrepreneurial spirit of our artists. The 29% growth in Spotify royalties, supported by strong gains across Indian languages, shows how digital platforms are enabling talent from every region to find audiences, build sustainable livelihoods and participate in the global creative economy… As technology reshapes the creative industries, we must continue to strengthen the skills, digital capabilities and enterprise opportunities that enable young creators to convert their talent into meaningful careers.”

Dhruvank Vaidya, Head of Music & Podcast at Spotify India, echoed these sentiments, noting that the streaming infrastructure has successfully surfaced and monetized regional audiences that previously lacked economic reach. With initiatives like the expansion of the RADAR programme into Malayalam following Punjabi and Tamil, Spotify continues to support emerging domestic talent across languages and genres.