Spanish music has one of the greatest projections and global influences. This is reflected in the Global Influential Music Index , drawn up by the German entity Medimops – the largest online second-hand record service in Europe – which measures the levels of recognition, musical scope and singular nature of music of the 30 largest music powers in the world, primarily based on data obtained from the main streaming platforms, the number of musical schools and record labels.

According to the analysis, Spain is ranked as the 9th country in terms of the greatest global musical influence. In this category – under the heading of musical influence – Spain scores 53 points, ahead of such musical powers as Sweden – one of the giants of the music industry – Colombia and Italy, and just a few decimal points behind Puerto Rico, Germany and France. The undisputed leader, as in the rest of the categories of the ranking, is the United States, which received the maximum score, followed by the United Kingdom, Canada and South Korea. To obtain this score, Medimops analysed the capacity of the musical pieces of each country to achieve success in charts outside of their group of origin, country and culture.

Spain is also in the top 10 under the headings of historically acclaimed musicians (9th position), in the heading of jobs linked to the arts sector and entertainment (10th position), in the number of record labels (10th position with 1,761 companies) and in the number of live performances of the 200 best artists in the world between 2015 and 2019 (9th position with 517 concerts).

Spain was placed in lower positions in terms of the number of most listened to songs (to which end the number of plays on such platforms as Spotify and YouTube were analysed), standing in 14th position in this category. In terms of uniqueness – traits that make the music of one country different to that of others – Spain stands in 11th position; and in high-level music academies it drops to 20th position.

In terms of musical genres - which Medimops calculates according to the economic value of the production of launches – Spain particularly stands out in pop music, where it received the third highest score, behind only the United States and South Korea. It stood in 5th position in classical music; 9th in rock music and 12th in electronic music.

Taking into account its global score (average of all these categories), Spain stands in 11th position in the Global Influential Music Index, with a score of 60.3. The United States scored 100 points, in a top 10 also made up of the United Kingdom (75.3 points), France (62.7), Germany (62.7), Canada (61.4), Italy (61.3), Japan (61.3), Sweden (61.3), Australia (60.7) and Ireland (60.6).

In the ranking on musical influence, our country was ranked in an excellent position in the analyses on cultural influence in general. According to the latest 'Best Countries index' of the US publication U.S. News & World Report, Spain is the third most influential country in the world, behind only our neighbours Italy (1st position) and France (2nd position), and ahead of such cultural powers as the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. As highlighted by the publication, Spain is a “cultural mosaic that continues to shape its identity dynamic as a modern nation”. 

Our country also holds second position in its cultural heritage, behind only Italy and ahead of Greece. This should come as no surprise: Spain is among the three countries with the most designations of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, together with China and Italy.

Furthermore, culture is one of the elements that most identifies Spain and one of its greatest attractions, as reflected in such studies as Spain’s reputation in the world. Country RepTrak 2020 drawn up by the Elcano Royal Institute and Reputation Institute and the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index​.