Karaoke in statistics — how is the world singing?

Karaoke is a popular leisure time activity in many corners of the world. But what do we know about karaoke — besides that it's fun and often consumed together with a beer or a few?

Let's look into the statistics. For example, did you know that we are talking about a USD 5.4 billion market (according to some sources)? Yep, grabbing the microphone and jumping up the stage is not just a one-man show at your local pub, but a flourising entertainment market that is expected to grow up to 7.0 billion USD by 2033, according to some sources.

Key statistics of this article

The size of the global karaoke market is estimated differently by different sources. Some sources estimate the global market to be as much as USD 5.4 Billion, including both hardware and software (2023, Coolest Gadgets). However, other sources estimate the size to be around USD 644.7 Million in 2023 (Market.us).
The karaoke market is growing – the estimates of the Compound Annual Growth Rate vary from of 2,6% (from 2023 to 2033, Coolest Gadgets) to 11% (from 2023 to 2030, Cognitive Market Research)
Asia Pacific is the biggest karaoke market with 42.3% share, due to strong karaoke culture in Japan, South Korea, and China, according to EIN Presswire.

Let's dig into some numbers of the global karaoke market. But first, let's start with the basics.

What is karaoke?

Karaoke can be considered to be first introduced to the public in 1971 — only 54 years ago — as that's when the first karaoke machine was built by Japanese Daitsuke Inoue. The invention was never patented. However, even as early as in the 1930's theathers would arrange guided sing-alongs, but in 1970's karaoke started to take form as its current meaning.

Talking about a meaning — karaoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese. Which is very descriptive of what karaoke is — the music without the lead singer, before a karaoke singer grabs the microphone. In more common terms karaoke means singing on top of a backing track, typically with a microphone, and looking at the lyrics on a karaoke screen. We don't really think it's karaoke if an artist performs with a backing track — it's the full experience with the backing track, the lyrics, maybe even a stage, amplifiers, and a microphone that makes it karaoke.

This is why karaoke has grown into a unique market and taken many forms during it's 54 first years: one can find karaoke in private karaoke rooms, karaoke boxes, in live stage settings, self-service stations, and at homes. Karaoke exists with or without an audience — just the singer is vital. Karaoke exists in online communities, competitions and festivals, as well as schools, libraries, and even elderly care homes.

Where is karaoke the most popular?

Karaoke is a global phenomenon, where as Asia Pacific accounts for 42,3% of the global karaoke market, according to EIN Press Wire. The size of the total karaoke market in Asia Pacific is valued at USD 2.28 Billion. For example Japan, South Korea, and China all have strong karaoke cultures.

Karaoke in Helsinki, Finland in November 2024.

Karaoke is also popular in parts of Europe, such as Finland, which is famous of their unique karaoke culture.

Commercial Sector vs. Home Use

Bars, restaurants, social entertainment venues, bowling alleys, and other leisure time spots — the commercial sector of karaoke — represent as much as 70.6% of the market (Source: Coolest Gadgets). However, the household sector is growing with an anticipated annual growth rate of 4.2% from 2024 to 2032 (Source: Coolest Gadgets). So singing at home is getting more and more popular!

What is popular when it comes to songs?

Stat significant did some research on what are the top karaoke songs in the world, based on a playlist-based research on Apple Music and Spotify. And tada – I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys is the number one in their ranking. Other competing songs include Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (Karafun).

Karaoke at Trondheim Camping.

We pulled out some data from Singa from the past 12 months (from both home users and commercial users), and the results prove what was anticipated — I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys is indeed the most popular song based on Singa's karaoke data as well. On the second place is the Swedish classic Dancing Queen by ABBA, and fittingly — Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper is on the third spot. Other popular songs based on Singa's data include for example Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Mr Brightside by The Killers and Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley. When looking at the past 12 months, newcomers like Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter, have made it to the top 20 too.

Top 15 most popular karaoke songs on Singa in the past 12 months

Stat significant also continues their research to discover which decades of music are most popular in karaoke, and discover that the Millenium era — 2000's — is the winning decade, where as 1990's and 2010's are following as second and third.

We continued to investigate which genres are the most popular in karaoke, and took a look at Singa's singing data from the past 12 months. Pop is leading heavily, where as good old Rock comes second. Other popular genres include for example Hip Hop, Alternative Rock, Folk/Country, and Rock Ballads.

Karaoke Rooms — Growing trend?

Technavio, in their karaoke market analysis, also reports growth in the global karaoke market — CAGR of 4.3% between 2024 and 2029. Technavio also lists some drivers leading to the rise in the adoption of karaoke industry, which are for example a growing popularity in music-related leisure activities.

What we also see in the market (data by Singa) is that the worldwide interest in karaoke rooms is growing — at least when looking into the Google searches. See the graph below!

Searches for Karaoke Rooms have been up for the past 5 years.

Karaoke rooms have been also studied to increase venues ROA (Return on Assets) for companies with karaoke compared to a control group of companies with no karaoke. Read more from our Market Research Report!

Summary

Ready to get singing? Navigate to singa.com for over 100,000 karaoke songs and even original recordings by the artists such as Kylie Minogue, Linkin Park, Iron Maiden, A-Ha.

Want to start a karaoke business or improve your current business with world-class karaoke? Talk to us, we're here to help you started.