Music Streaming Growth Slows in Quebec: Report

Streaming music isn't growing at the same rate it once was in Quebec.

A new report from the Observatory of Culture and Communications of the Quebec Institute of Statistics reports that while there were 31.9 billion streams across various platforms, music streaming grew by 3% in 2025. That’s compared to its 12% increase in 2024 and 16% in 2023.

The same goes across Canada, with streaming only growing by 6% in 2025 — a decline from 2024’s 10% and 2023’s 15% increases.

Within Quebec, almost three-quarters of listeners (71%) are based in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area, with over half (55%) from the city, while the other 16% are from the surrounding boroughs, including Laval and Longueuil. The remaining 29% account for listeners in the Quebec Census Metropolitan Area, the Ottawa-Gatineau Census Metropolitan Area and the rest of the province.

But how many of them are listening to local artists? Despite francophone music being one of the most popular categories on Spotify, according to this new report, only 7.1% of listeners streamed music by Quebec acts in 2025.

Among the 50 most listened-to tracks in the province by Quebec artists, 83% are in French while 13% are English songs — all performed by acclaimed singer Charlotte Cardin.

Researchers provided a list of the artists most listened to in the province, topped by Taylor Swift and followed by Drake. He’s joined by fellow Canadians, The Weeknd, who comes in at No. 4, and Tate McRae at No. 7. The Québécois act that comes closest to the top 10 is Les Cowboys Fringants at No. 12.

The lack of homegrown artists is even more present on the most-listened-to songs list, which finds Alex Warren’s chart-topping hit “Ordinary” at No. 1, followed by Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things.” Evidently, pop music reigns supreme as 29% of Quebec music listeners stream the genre, followed by R&B and hip-hop at 14%.

Still, listeners prefer to stream an artist’s older songs over their newer output. Citing “the rediscovery of classics, facilitated by algorithmic recommendations,” and music playlists featuring older tracks which “have more stable listening rates than new releases,” the report finds that 50% of listeners are streaming tracks released in 2022 and earlier, up from 39% in 2024. Meanwhile, new releases account for only 28% of listening.

One song that has benefited from this jump is Patrick Watson’s 2009 hit “Je te laisserai des mots,” which was the first French-language song to reach one billion Spotify streams, 15 years after its release. Last year, Watson ranked No. 166 among the top artists streamed in Quebec.

That's reflected in the top vinyl sales of 2025, which features four albums that were released before 1990: Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon (No. 6) and Wish You Were Here (No. 8), Bob Marley’s Legend (No. 9) and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors (No. 10).

Québécois artists flex their dominance in physical and digital album sales, despite overall album sales declining for the fourth year in a row — falling from 24% to 18%. Of the 10 best-selling albums, five are by Quebec artists, and three were released in French.

While Taylor Swift’s glitzy The Life of a Showgirl is at No. 1, Alex Henry Foster’s live album, A Nightfall Ritual, ranks at No. 2, followed by Viviane Audet’s Le piano et le torrent. No. 3 and No. 4 were Les amours de seconde main, JF Pauzé’s first solo record since Les Cowboys Fringants, and Pierre Lapointe’s Dix chansons démodées pour ceux qui ont le cœur abîmé. Patrick Watson’s Uh Oh rounded out the list. Last year, it reached the top 20 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart.

According to last year’s top CD sales, six are by Quebec artists, and four are French-language releases. Audet and Lapointe’s projects rank at No. 2 and No. 3, while Salebarbes’ À boire deboutte and Gin à l'eau salée reach No. 4 and No. 8, respectively. The Damn Truth’s self-titled album is at No. 5, followed by Watson’s Uh Oh.