World Intellectual Property Day 2025 Celebrates Musicians

Geneva, April 25, 2025
PR/2025/935

Pop music continues to dominate global charts while reggaeton and K-pop are gaining fans among the ranks of the most-popular musical genres, according to new WIPO data released to mark World Intellectual Property (IP) Day, which is commemorated each April 26.

With World IP Day 2025 carrying the theme “Music and IP: Feel the Beat of IP,” World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Daren Tang called for action to support creators.

Music Genre Popularity

Charting the evolution of music-genre popularity, WIPO analyzed streams on Apple Music and other sources.

In early 2018, pop music represented 39 percent of all chart entries on Apple Music, with hip-hop/rap holding 14 percent, reggaeton 5 percent and K-pop 5 percent. By 2024, pop music still represented 33 percent of chart entries, while reggaeton gained to about 7.5% and K-pop moved up about a half a point. Other genre like electronic dance music, metal and folk pop showed strong growth, albeit from much lower baseline levels of global popularity, according to the latest data released in WIPO’s Creative Industries Insights Series.

Youth Video Competition Winners

Following an online public vote with more than 28,700 participants evaluating 127 videos submitted by entrants from 60-plus countries, the winners of the 2025 Youth Video Competition are:

• First prize goes to Hexawgon Productions (The Philippines) for “A little Love,” which shows how one person’s creativity can ripple outward, impacting lives in unanticipated ways.
• Second prize goes to the Indumathi family (India) for “Chooda’s Isai Ula,” which shows how music can forge connections with neighbors.
• Third prize goes to Yuehan Xiong (China) and a team from Chongqing University’s Soundscape Research Center for “Listening to the Hani Ancient Chants: China’s Civilizational Ethos of Heritage Preservation and Innovation,” which showcases efforts to preserve Hani acoustic heritage.
• The People’s Choice prize goes to Fang Zheng (China) for “The Renew of Wenzhou’s Intangible Cultural Heritage: Drum Lyrics Integrated with Modern Music Technology”. The video shows work to revive 300-year-old Wenzhou Drum Lyrics through modern musical techniques and AI.