Tag: Data trends

Mexico’s Emo Superfans Are Not Okay (They Promise)

July 24, 2026

A Spotify logo on a textured background

In the mid-aughts, emo transformed from a fringe underground scene into a cultural phenomenon, launching bands like Fall Out Boy (and accessories like fingerless gloves) into the mainstream. Two decades later, the genre is once again having a moment, and nowhere is that revival more alive than in Mexico.

Between 2019 and 2025, streams of emo and pop-punk in Mexico nearly doubled, outpacing growth in the U.S. Over a similar stretch, from 2022 to 2026, the number of monthly listeners of the genre in Mexico grew by 66%.

What began as an offshoot of American punk has found a home in Mexico. “Sadness and heartbreak are deeply embedded in Mexican culture, from rancheras to telenovelas to the national football team,” said Gerardo Mora, Senior Editor, Spotify Mexico. “As a country, we have always found beauty in suffering, and emo found a land that was ready for it.”

While global giants like Linkin Park or My Chemical Romance are popular across the globe, the surge in streams in Mexico is driven by local artists like PXNDX. Formed in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1996, their audience today is bigger than ever, with more than 3.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify, up 125% between 2019 to 2025.

Most-streamed emo songs in Mexico PXNDX — “Los Malaventurados No Lloran” Hoobastank — “The Reason” División Minúscula — “Sognare” Evanescence — “Bring Me To Life” PXNDX — “Procedimientos para Llegar a un Común Acuerdo”

Their 2006 record Amantes Sunt Amentes is the most-streamed emo album of all time in Mexico, and it features “Los Malaventurados No Lloran,” the country’s most-streamed emo track.

It makes sense, Gerardo explained, that emo booms in Mexico, and online. “Emo was the first music scene in Mexico built on the internet, long before that was the norm,” he continued. “That sense of digital community and identity translates directly into today’s hyper-connected world, making this the natural environment for that movement to resurface stronger than ever.”

Most-streamed emo albums in Mexico PXNDX — Amantes Sunt Amentes Green Day — American Idiot My Chemical Romance — The Black Parade PXNDX — Para Ti Con Desprecio José Madero — Carmesí

The new emo kids

Today’s fans are pressing play on the next wave of Mexican artists—including Blnko, cacomixtle, Sad Saturno, San Venus, and Moorelo—who are putting their own spin on the genre. 

“There’s a global revival of pop punk and Y2K culture happening right now,” said Gerardo. “The emo sound and aesthetic is making a comeback. That opens the door for a new generation of Mexican artists, like Blnko and cacomixtle, to take the genre’s blueprint and make it entirely their own.”

While the fans aged 25 to 34 (the original emo generation) account for more than half of streams in Mexico, a new cohort is proving that the uptick isn’t driven solely by nostalgia. Today, listeners aged 18 to 24—born well after many of the first-wave bands debuted—make up 20% of all streams of emo music in the country. That younger audience is also driving renewed interest in many of the tracks that helped define the genre, which may help explain why, between 2020 and 2025, streams have skyrocketed for plenty of iconic anthems. 

Songs with strongest resurgence in Mexico (Streaming increase 2020 vs. 2025) Paramore — "All I Wanted" +1,551% Falling In Reverse — "Sexy Drug" +1,337% Black Veil Brides — "In The End" +1,102% The Killers — "Somebody Told Me" +1,037% Fall Out Boy — "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)" +807%

We’re also seeing a surge in first-time listeners for many of the big-name legacy bands.

New listener discovery 2022 to 2025 PXNDX: +675% Green Day: +544% Fall Out Boy: +535% Paramore: +500% My Chemical Romance: +409%

The result is an only-in-Mexico mash-up. “I see Mexico’s emo scene moving toward a moment of celebration between the old and the new,” said Gerardo. “Legacy bands are honoring what they built and commemorating a scene that defined a generation. But what’s most exciting is that the new bands recognize the importance of what those artists did, and are carrying that legacy forward in their own voices. In Mexico, new times and old friends exist in the same room. And that’s what makes the emo scene in this country unlike anywhere else.”

Explore Mexico’s emo scene on Spotify with our Emo En Tu Idioma playlist. 

America’s Sound, Heard Around the World

July 2, 2026

The text "American Listening on America's 250th Birthday" appearing in front of a stylized map of America

Spotify is proud to be a home for American culture. As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, we wanted to take a look at how American artists, creators, and authors shape listening at home and around the world. 

America leads the charts, at home and abroad

On any given day, people across 184 markets open Spotify and reach for something made in America. From songwriters outside Nashville to podcasters recording across the Rocky Mountains, from audiobook authors in New England to hip-hop producers in Atlanta, American artists, creators, and authors power what the world listens to.

Americans love listening to American music, and the numbers are striking: 69% of all streams in the country go to American artists, and American music makes up 70% of the Spotify Top 50 chart in the U.S. in 2025. Listeners in the South and Midwest stream the most music made in America: In just the past week, Mississippi topped the list, followed by West Virginia, South Dakota, Alabama, and Louisiana.

The artists driving those numbers capture the breadth of the American sound: Taylor Swift tops the charts both domestically and globally, while Bad Bunny, Morgan Wallen, Kendrick Lamar, and Post Malone are among the top most-streamed American artists in the U.S. Notably, Morgan Wallen has an exceptionally strong home-market audience, with 74% of his streams coming from U.S. listeners, which is the highest share among American artists.

The story doesn’t stop at the border. The United States is the world’s top exporter of music, and Spotify, which drives more music industry revenue than any other company, is what takes it everywhere. Beyond Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and Eminem are among the most-streamed American artists of all time globally. In the past year alone, people outside the U.S. streamed songs featuring at least one American artist 776 billion times. 

Pop, hip-hop, rock, indie, and country are the American genres most streamed domestically. Internationally, pop, hip-hop, rock, dance, and indie lead, and over the last five years, streams of American country music have grown more than 94% outside the U.S.

Every Independence Day, Americans cue up more than 650,000 Fourth of July playlists celebrating cookouts, block parties, road trips, and fireworks. Top searched tracks during the holiday include Bruce Springsteen‘s “Born in the U.S.A.,” Lee Greenwood‘s “God Bless The U.S.A.,” Katy Perry‘s “Firework,” John Mellencamp‘s “R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.,” and Ray Charles‘ “America the Beautiful,” representing a playlist that spans decades but pulses with the same spirit.

American voices in every format

The reach of American creators on Spotify extends well beyond music. U.S.-created podcasts have been streamed in more than 180 countries so far in 2026, with The Joe Rogan Experience, The Mel Robbins Podcast, This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von, Huberman Lab, and Call Her Daddy leading Spotify’s global charts. The U.S. is Spotify’s number one podcast market in the world.

Many Americans feature on our global list of the top audiobooks of all time, with American author Sarah J. Maas being the most listened-to author of all time on Spotify. Works by American authors Freida McFadden (The Housemaid), Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing), Jennette McCurdy (I’m Glad My Mom Died), and James Clear (Atomic Habits) all feature on the global all-time list. 

Investing in the people behind the culture

Celebrating American culture means investing in the people who create it. Spotify paid music rightsholders more than $11 billion in 2025, which is more in a single year than any company has ever paid. Much of that has flowed to American rightsholders: Royalties generated by U.S. artists from Spotify alone have more than doubled since 2019, with nearly half coming from listeners outside the U.S. Spotify is proud to help export American music and culture around the world. 

Beyond the dollars, Spotify invests in the infrastructure that American artists and creators need for sustainable careers. Spotify for Artists gives musicians access to listener data and global promotional tools. Human editorial teams and programs like EQUAL and Fresh Finds have helped surface and invest in emerging American talent. Features like Reserved help real fans get real tickets to their favorite artists’ live shows in the U.S., while SongDNA lets listeners explore the writers, producers, and collaborators behind any song.

Across the country, Spotify has doubled down our investment in podcast creators. Earlier this year, Spotify opened Sycamore Studios In Los Angeles, a podcast production hub where guests like Snoop Dogg and author Andy Weir have recorded, alongside dozens of local creators.

Spotify’s audiobook investment has made books more accessible globally while unlocking new revenue for authors and publishers, driving up to 30% annual growth in the U.S. and paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to authors and publishers annually. 

As AI reshapes the creative landscape, Spotify supports unlocking new ways for artists to create and for listeners to discover, while aggressively protecting against the misuse of generative AI. New initiatives like Artist Profile Protection, Verified by Spotify, and AI Credits, combined with our industry-leading policies, altogether strengthen protections for American artists, podcasters, and authors, and increase transparency for fans.

A stage the size of the world

From the blues to hip-hop, from the gramophone to podcasts, American culture never stops evolving, and Spotify has been proud to be the place where that evolution lives, streams, and spreads.

On America’s 250th birthday, we celebrate every songwriter who poured their heart out onto a page, every artist who ever played a small stage hoping someone would listen, every podcaster who hits record with a story to tell, and every author whose words find a reader halfway across the world. Spotify exists to give all of them, regardless of label, budget, or background, a stage the size of the world.

Happy Fourth of July, and here’s to the next 250 years of American sound!