Taylor Swift claims title of Spotify's most-streamed artist for second straight year, with more than 26.6bn streams in 2024 - Music Business Worldwide

MBW’s Stat Of The Week is a series in which we highlight a data point that deserves the attention of the global music industry. Stat Of the Week is supported by music data analytics firm Chartmetric.

Taylor Swift has once again claimed the title of Spotify’s most-streamed artist for the second year in a row, achieving more than 26.6 billion streams globally since the start of 2024.

The streaming giant announced the news on Wednesday (December 4) as part of the launch of its annual Wrapped campaign. This yearly event highlights the top-performing artists, songs, albums, and podcasts on the platform.

A significant factor contributing to Taylor Swift’s dominance is her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, released in April. This album broke records as the most pre-saved album in Spotify history and has also been hailed as the platform’s most-streamed album of 2024.

To recognize this achievement, Spotify has introduced a new honor: the Global Top Artist badge. Taylor Swift is the inaugural recipient of this distinction, which will be displayed on her Spotify profile.

The Weeknd, whose song Blinding Lights became the first to cross 4 billion Spotify streams, came in second place this year. Following closely behind was Bad Bunny, who broke the record as the only artist to be Spotify’s most-streamed for three consecutive years. Bad Bunny claimed the third position in this year’s global rankings.

The fourth and fifth most-streamed artists on Spotify this year are Drake and Billie Eilish. On Apple Music, Eilish was named the Artist of the Year for 2024, becoming the first artist to receive this honor twice following her initial win in 2019.

Completing the Top 10 list are Travis Scott, Peso Pluma, Kanye West, Ariana Grande and Feid.

Sabrina Carpenter might not have made it to the Top 10 most-streamed artists, but her smash hit Espresso has claimed the title of the most-streamed song globally and the ninth most viral track, amassing over 1.6 billion streams.

Additionally, Carpenter’s sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet, released in August, has secured the third spot on the list of the most-streamed albums of the year. This follows behind Billie Eilish’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, in second place, with Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department topping the list.

Most-Streamed Albums Globally:
      THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY by Taylor Swift
      HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish
      Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter
      MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO by KAROL G
      eternal sunshine by Ariana Grande
      1989 (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift
      SOS by SZA
      Lover by Taylor Swift
      Fireworks & Rollerblades by Benson Boone
      Starboy by The Weeknd

Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things ranked second in the most-streamed songs list, followed by Eilish’s BIRDS OF A FEATHER. See below for the full top 10 list.

Most-Streamed Songs Globally:
      Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter
      Beautiful Things by Benson Boone
      BIRDS OF A FEATHER by Billie Eilish
      Gata Only by FloyyMenor, Cris Mj
      Lose Control by Teddy Swims
      End of Beginning by Djo
      Too Sweet by Hozier
      One Of The Girls (with JENNIE, Lily Rose Depp) by The Weeknd
      Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift
      Die With A Smile by Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga

Spotify also revealed the most viral songs on its platform this year, led by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s Die With A Smile. See below for the full top 10 list.

Most Viral Songs Globally:
      Die With A Smile by Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga
      BIRDS OF A FEATHER by Billie Eilish
      Beautiful Things by Benson Boone
      Lose Control by Teddy Swims
      Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan
      Too Sweet by Hozier
      we can’t be friends (wait for your love) by Ariana Grande
      End of Beginning by Djo
      Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter
      Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar

Spotify will be rolling out new features for this year’s Wrapped campaign. Artists can explore their year on Spotify through a personalized microsite featuring share cards and data stories designed for easy sharing.

The share cards will include stats like total listeners, top fans, and top tracks. They will be available in 37 languages and presented as individual cards for every data story.

Spotify is also introducing new data stories where artists can see their top-performing Clips and revisit their biggest release week with the “new release” story.

Artists with Countdown Pages for pre-saves will see metrics like pre-save counts and their most impactful videos.

Clips – Spotify’s under-30-second vertical videos launched in March 2023 – will be part of the Wrapped 2024 campaign. Wrapped 2024 includes Clips uploaded before the launch, showcasing artist insights and fan interactions. These will also feature across Spotify profiles, playlists, and more. Participating artists include Peso Pluma, ROSÉ, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, and KAROL G.

Spotify has also brought back Wrapped for Songwriters, offering an interactive microsite, share card generator, and social campaigns for songwriters.