[SpookyZalost]

I do not know how to read music.
Give me a chord chart and the song to listen to, and I'll figure it out anyway

however I also have Chromestetic synesthesia and can visually see music, so I also learn by mimicking the colors and patterns I see, coupled with perfect pitch and well... yeah.

I am not a professional musician and mostly just learn songs I like via guitar, bass, piano, and most recently by singing them at karaoke when available.

so honestly, no, I do not think you need to know how to read music to learn it.

That being said as I understand, being able to read music makes learning it far easier since you can just pick up sheet music which contains the entirety of how to play a song including notes, pacing, progression, etc.