Music Industry

Betcha Can’t Guess Which 21 Rock Bands Gets Streamed the Most

Every week, I check what songs are being streamed by both Canadians and Americans and it’s rare to see a rock song of any sort in the Top 200. Streaming (for the moment, anyway) is dominated by pop, hip hop and R&B. Rock fans just haven’t adopted streaming in great numbers–at least not yet.

This isn’t to say that rock is entirely absent from the streaming universe. Billboard recently published a couple of charts ranking which rock acts get the most streams. The bad news? There are no hard numbers, so it’s impossible to tell where these bands rank within the wider streaming universe.

Here’s what’s interesting to me:

  • Classic rock acts showed up more often than I expected. That either means older demos are adopting streaming or that the younger demos have discovered old acts.
  • Indie rock bands with lots of cred don’t register with streamers. They’re nowhere to be found.
  • What’s the hell’s going on with Three Days Grace?

Top 21 Global Rock Acts on Spotify

1. Coldplay
2. Imagine Dragons
3. Twenty One Pilots
4. The Beatles
5. Linkin Park
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers
7. Panic! At The Disco
8. Metallica
9. Arctic Monkeys
10. Queen
11. Fall Out Boy
12. Green Day
13. AC/DC
14. Pink Floyd
15. Blink-182
16. Paramore
17. Guns N’ Roses
18. Nirvana
19. The Rolling Stones
20. The 1975
21. Kings of Leon

Top 21 Rock Acts in the US on Spotify

1. Twenty One Pilots
2. Imagine Dragons
3. Coldplay
4. Panic! At The Disco
5. The Beatles
6. Fall Out Boy
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers
8. Linkin Park
9. Blink-182
10. Metallica
11. Green Day
12. The 1975
13. Paramore
14. Five Finger Death Punch
15. Queen
16. Led Zeppelin
17. AC/DC
18. Pink Floyd
19. Arctic Monkeys
20. Mumford & Sons
21. Three Days Grace

 

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39598 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

One thought on “Betcha Can’t Guess Which 21 Rock Bands Gets Streamed the Most

  • It’s really cool to be able to look at all the data. How about Canadian rock bands on Spotify Alan? Top five? Hip at the top? No wait, Nickleback?

    Reply

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