Over the 20+ years it’s been in operation, the Tiny Desk Concerts series has provided an intimate performance showcase for artists ranging from T-Pain to Maren Morris to engage their fans online.
The format has also proved itself to be a potent launchpad for new/emerging artists. An analysis of the streaming outcomes of 63 artists who performed on the show in 2025 found the average artist enjoyed 12% growth* in the eight weeks after their Tiny Desk appearance (including week of) vs. their eight-week average baseline prior to the performance, according to Luminate CONNECT.
Smaller-scale artists, who are still introducing themselves, tend to enjoy disproportionate growth rates following their Tiny Desk performances (vs. Bad Bunny, for instance, who didn’t see materially higher streaming volumes following his Tiny Desk set).
Arguably one of the most powerful examples of Tiny Desk’s influence is hip hop artist Doechii’s ascent starting in the latter half of 2024 through early 2025. While the artist had already spent years building up a fanbase, a December Tiny Desk performance gave added exposure to her earlier album release (Alligator Bites Never Heal, which dropped in August 2024, three months prior to the NPR concert) and drove up activity by reaching new audiences.
Those two combined — the album release followed by a Tiny Desk performance — ultimately snowballed into the viral diffusion of Doechii’s ‘Anxiety’ title, which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.
But Doechii’s success at the Tiny Desk is no isolated incident. Hip hop duo Clipse, for instance, recently leveraged an NPR appearance as a part of an overall album release rollout strategy, with the performance goosing their streaming volumes by 74 million (during the week of the album release and performance vs. the eight-week average baseline before release).
A few examples of the artists who enjoyed the greatest benefits from their 2025 Tiny Desk appearances are provided in the chart below.
While both Clipse and genre-blurring British performer Bartees Strange paired the NPR appearances with their latest album launch — making it difficult to disaggregate Tiny Desk’s impact from the release itself — none of the other artists above had confounding releases in the same way.
Alternatively, British singer-songwriter Sasha Keable preempted her EP release with a Tiny Desk performance two weeks prior, giving additional marketing lift to her new music.
So whether you’re an established artist such as Clipse, reintroducing yourself to fans in an “unplugged” format, or a newcomer à la Sasha Keable trying to build your fanbase, the NPR Tiny Desk is clearly driving impact across the industry and giving musicians the chance to play for fans in a way they don’t on tour or in appearances.
* NOTE: As an outlier that dramatically skewed the mean In a positive direction, Clipse was omitted from the 12% average streaming growth.
Grant Gregory is research manager, Insights, at Luminate Date. This article is taken from the Luminate Tuesday Takeaway newsletter.
