Music News

Spotify’s year-end streaming stats are here.

With so many people stuck inside because the pandemic, Spotify saw some big gains in subscriber numbers. But what were they listening to? That’s the point of their annual Wrapped campaign.

  • Most-streamed artist: Bad Bunny with 8.3 billion streams. Over 3.3 billion came from his YHLQMDLG album. It was also the most-streamed album of the year. The Weeknd’s After Hours was in second spot followed by Hollywood’s Bleeding from Post Malone.
  • Most-streamed track: “Blinding Lights” from The Weeknd with 1.6 billion streams. Next was Tones and I’s “Dance Monkey.”
  • Most-streamed female artist: Billie Eilish, followed by Tay-Tay and Ariana Grande.
  • Most-popular podcast: The Joe Rogan Experience. Ted Talks Daily came next.

Because of social distancing and work-from-home situations, there was a big increase in nostalgia-themed and WFH playlists. The latter saw an increase of 1,400%. Health and wellness playlists also saw a boost as did garden-themed ones. They were up 430%. Listening to playlists designed for cleaning jumped by 40%.

There was a big jump in podcast listenership in the 18-24 demo. And the most popular time for podcast listening? Between 6 am and 9 am.

Spotify’s Black Lives Matter playlist saw more than 64 million streams. Meanwhile, users created almost 65,000 playlists around the themes “Black Lives Matter” or “BLM.”

Most Streamed Artists Globally

  1. Bad Bunny
  2. Drake
  3. J Balvin
  4. Juice WRLD
  5. The Weeknd

Most Streamed Female Artists Globally

  1. Billie Eilish
  2. Taylor Swift
  3. Ariana Grande
  4. Dua Lipa
  5. Halsey

Most Streamed Albums Globally

  1. YHLQMDLG, Bad Bunny 
  2. After Hours, The Weeknd
  3. Hollywood’s Bleeding, Post Malone 
  4. Fine Line, Harry Styles 
  5. Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa 

Most Streamed Songs Globally

  1. Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd
  2. Dance Monkey” by Tones And I 
  3. The Box” by Roddy Ricch 
  4. Roses – Imanbek Remix” by Imanbek and SAINt JHN
  5. Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa 

Most Popular Podcasts Globally

  1. The Joe Rogan Experience
  2. TED Talks Daily
  3. The Daily
  4. The Michelle Obama Podcast
  5. Call Her Daddy

Most Popular Podcast Genres Globally

  1. Society & Culture
  2. Comedy
  3. Lifestyle & Health
  4. Arts & Entertainment
  5. Education

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 38849 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

3 thoughts on “Spotify’s year-end streaming stats are here.

  • Spotify exclusivity for some podcasts has begun to irk me. I even use and love Spotify, but it’s not how I want to consume podcasts.

    Reply
    • Agreed, but as per usual, money rules the world.

      Reply
  • Not going to mention the top rock/alternative streamed artists/songs/albums, Alan?

    Man, rock really is dead.

    Reply

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