The Pandora Playback for Advertisers
Another year is almost in the books. That means it’s time for Pandora Playback for advertisers: where we highlight the top trends of the year, giving brands insight into audience listening habits. As a whole, our audience consumed quite a mix of music—pushing Pandora to the major milestone of surpassing 187B total spins on the platform. From trending pop anthems and Latin chart-toppers, to timeless classics of the '70s and '80s, it’s clear that Pandora is built around music personalization and discovery. This year, we also celebrated our 20th anniversary—marking two decades of loyal audiences and massive scale.
Our year-end listening trends provide a treasure trove of valuable insights for marketers. So, let’s rewind and take a look at the unforgettable hits and moments that made 2025 a record-breaking year for our listeners and advertisers alike.
Track 1: Celebrating Our 20th Anniversary
We’re celebrating more than just the end of 2025 but Pandora’s 20th anniversary this year. There was much to toast to—our continued lead in ad-supported share of ear, loyal listeners, 43M monthly unique visitors (MUVs), and 2K+ device integrations. Our listeners keep coming back to shape their music tastes and discover their next favorite artist, while advertisers keep adding Pandora to their campaigns for our massive scale and advanced targeting.
Track 2: In Our Feels
It’s no secret that we at Pandora are obsessed with our listeners, collecting billions of user data signals each day. This year, we forged an even closer connection through mood-based listening, Pandora’s music-centered technology that tags a song directly to a mood or activity. After all, 77% of our listeners say music improves their mood, and 51% of listeners ages 18-24 say music helps them process their emotions. After taking a deeper look at what the top mood-based listening categories were for 2025, people were clearly in their feelings.
Whether listeners needed a distraction from this year’s economic shifts or were celebrating milestones in their life, the top spins by mood this year include:
Happy: 27B sum of spins
Rainy Day: 20B
Party: 19B
Love: 17B
All of that increased mood-based engagement means we continue to innovate our targeting solutions for advertisers and allow brands to connect with consumers when they are in the headspace to receive relevant ads. Advertisers can also target moods across AudioXP, Connected Home, Connected Vehicle, Web, and more.
Track 3: Living… And Reliving
This year was a landmark year for culture, with music at the center of nearly every defining moment. Packed with sold-out tours, high-profile album drops, and headline-making records, 2025 cemented audio as a key driver of conversation and connection across the globe.
We've seen remarkable surges in Pandora streams and skyrocketing popularity for artists like Bad Bunny, Cardi B, Taylor Swift, and Jelly Roll, who all dominated the cultural landscape through their trailblazing releases and unforgettable appearances.
Music was front and center at the year’s biggest sports events, films, and awards shows—and the soundwaves echoed through our platform. Here’s how audiences of all ages and demos flooded Pandora after major moments and events:
Sports: +159% increase in station adds the week after Bad Bunny was announced as the halftime show performer for the Big Game in 2026
Film: 8+ charting soundtrack songs on Pandora’s Top ThumbHundred in July 2025 for K-Pop Demon Hunters
Awards show: +1.2M increase in Pandora spins for Shaboozey and +700K increase in spins for Jelly Roll after their performance at the 2025 American Music Awards
Track 4: Fueling the Future of Music
Pandora has a long history of spotting the next big thing in music, and this year was no exception. The biggest names in music recognize our influence and ability to empower the next generation of legends.
Breakout star Alex Warren is a prime example, having first found fame on TikTok and growing his voice thanks to SiriusXM and Pandora. Let’s take a deeper look at how his journey began:
2022: First featured on SiriusXM, Pandora Hits 1, and The Pulse
2023: Does his first-ever radio interview, and it’s on SiriusXM
2024: Officially becomes a SiriusXM & Pandora Artist Accelerator
2025: Wins “Best New Artist” at the VMAs, tops the charts for weeks with his track “Ordinary,” and headlines multiple music events
Alex is one of the many artists whose careers have flourished with the help of SiriusXM and Pandora, joining the ranks of Coco Jones and Teddy Swims. We don’t just promote popular voices, we find new ones—keeping a pulse on who might be the next big name.
Track 5: Genres That Had Our Listeners Pressing “Play”
Pandora is known for its expert curation and precise algorithms. Fans love our music discovery capabilities, and we maintain this crown with diverse music genres (1,365+) and a wide variety of tracks to choose from (2.3M).
Our listeners 18 and up are multi-faceted, tuning in to an average of 6.9 music genres, with rock, pop, R&B, and country dominating. It comes as no surprise that these are also the top genres by ad hours of 2025:
Rock: Reach fans on Rockopolis: Classic Rock and Classic Rock
Country: Find country music lovers on Country and Today’s Country
Pop: Target fans on 2000s Pop or Today’s Hits
R&B: Zero in on this genre on R&B/Soul or Today's R&B and Hip Hop Hits
We also saw the revival of a throwback music genre this year: recession pop. Dating back to 2007-2012, this genre started as an escape from the economic downturn of the late ‘00s, which shares similarities with the economic shifts of 2025. Think of nostalgic hits from Katy Perry, the Black Eyed Peas, Flo Rida, and Miley Cyrus. There’s been a +6.4% increase in US audio streams of pop tracks from the 2007-2012 time period, according to Luminate’s 2025 Midyear Music Report. Reach recession pop listeners in the mood for escapism on stations like 2007 Hits, 2010s Pop, and 2012 Hits.
Get on Their 2026 Playlists
This was a year of explosive user activity, with a high number of station adds, searches, and thumbs (or likes). And we're just getting started. As we approach 2026, even more innovations are on the horizon for advertisers.
Ready to ride the Pandora soundwave into the new year? Let’s talk.
