Indian artists' Spotify royalties rise 29% in 2025; Telugu leads with 120% jump

Royalties generated by Indian artists on Spotify rose 29% year-on-year in 2025, with growth spreading across major Indian languages as streaming expands the reach and earning potential of regional and independent musicians.

Telugu music recorded the sharpest growth, with royalties generated globally by Telugu artists surging more than 120% year-on-year. Marathi royalties rose nearly 50%, Bengali nearly 40%, Malayalam more than 30%, Hindi nearly 30% and Tamil 20%, according to Spotify's annual Loud & Clear report.

The report tracks how more than $11 billion in music royalties were distributed globally by Spotify in 2025, taking the platform's total royalties paid since launch to nearly $70 billion.


The growth in India is also being reflected in the number of artists making meaningful income from the platform. The number of artists generating more than Rs 1 crore annually grew 21% year-on-year, while the number earning more than Rs 5 crore has more than doubled since 2023, Spotify said.

The streaming platform said the growth is not concentrated only among India's biggest artists, but is spreading across languages, genres and the wider artist base.

“In 2025, 14% more listeners globally discovered an Indian artist on Spotify for the first time — and the listening went deep,” Dhruvank Vaidya, Head of Music & Podcast, Spotify India, said. “Indian artists accumulated nearly 335 billion streams on the platform last year, over 20 billion hours of music, with royalties up 29% and growing in every major Indian language. Telugu alone is up over 120% year on year.”

Indian music travels beyond India

Indian artists were streamed nearly 335 billion times on Spotify in 2025, amounting to more than 20 billion hours of listening. Globally, listeners played an Indian artist they had never heard before 12.8 billion times, up 14% from the previous year.

More than 40% of the royalties earned by Indian artists on Spotify in 2025 came from listeners outside India, highlighting the growing international market for Indian music.

Spotify said that international consumption is not limited to Hindi music, with artists across languages finding audiences outside their home markets through editorial playlists, algorithmic discovery and programmes such as RADAR.

Punjabi music has been one of the strongest examples of this global expansion, but artists working in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and other languages are increasingly reaching international audiences as well.

Anirudh Ravichander's Tamil album Coolie crossed 100 million Spotify streams within 10 days, while Sai Abhyankar and Sai Smriti's Tamil single “Aasa Kooda” has crossed 238 million streams. Kerala-born rapper Hanumankind's “Big Dawgs” has crossed 360 million Spotify streams and reached No. 1 on a Spotify global chart, according to the company.

Indian artists also accounted for 90% of the tracks on Spotify India's Daily Top 50 in 2025.

Half of Spotify India's year-end top 10 songs came from outside film soundtracks, including tracks by Aditya Rikhari, Kushagra, Anuv Jain, Faheem Abdullah and Jasleen Royal.

Rikhari's independent track “Sahiba” spent more than 11 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Spotify India.

“Streaming changed the scale of what was possible for me as an independent artist,” Rikhari said, adding that Spotify's discovery tools helped his music reach a wider audience beyond the initial release.

Regional music becomes an economic opportunity

Spotify's data points to a broader shift in India's music industry, where streaming is increasingly allowing artists to build audiences without relying entirely on traditional music-industry gatekeepers.

Haryanvi music, for instance, has grown nearly sevenfold in streams on Spotify between February 2023 and February 2026. Nearly 100 Haryanvi acts now rank among Spotify India's top 5,000 artists.

Spotify has also expanded its RADAR programme to Malayalam, following its launches around Punjabi and Tamil music.

“The audience was always there; what Spotify built was the infrastructure to surface it, monetise it, and ensure artists earned from it,” Vaidya said.

The growing role of independent artists is also spilling into mainstream film music. Independent artists such as Jasmine Sandlas and Simran Choudhary featured on Dhurandhar, one of the biggest film albums of 2025.

Women artists are also seeing stronger consumption. Local streams of Indian female artists on Spotify grew 27% year-on-year in 2025, while international streams grew 7%.

Jasmine Sandlas' appearances on the Dhurandhar soundtrack helped take her to No. 3 on Spotify's Global Top 200, according to the company.

The international reach of Indian music is also reflected in Spotify's Global Impact List, where 11 of the top 15 Indian songs were artist-first releases spanning languages and genres.