New research from MRC Data/Nielsen Music suggests that streaming of country music grew by more than a third (36%) in 2019 compared to 2018. It also found that 56% of country radio listeners now use a streaming service every day. 29% of respondents said that they stream music a few days a week while a mere 6% say they never stream music at all.
“If you are programming a Country radio station today, the streaming audience is impossible to ignore with more than half of Country radio listeners between the ages of 18 to 44 reporting streaming music via an on-demand music services every day,” said Ken Benson, co-founder of P1 Media Group, who worked with MRC Data/Nielsen Music on the research.
The report also suggests that country radio totally missed Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’, the biggest country crossover phenomenon in years, even after country veteran Billy Rae Cyrus was added to the track. It says it did not appear in the Top 500 country airplay chart of 2019 and that most respondents who stream music said the track should be played on their country radio station of choice.
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