This month marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Spotify audio streaming platform. Since its launch in April 2006, the platform has become the dominant force in music streaming and completely changed the music industry, writes Gizmodo.
Notable changes at Spotify include the introduction of audiobooks, the Spotify Wrapped year-end retrospectives – which almost every company in various industries has now started copying – and, in recent years, the controversial introduction of artificial intelligence into the music streaming experience.
Now, for the first time in its 20-year history, Spotify has announced its internal data on the top 20 most-listened-to songs, audiobooks and podcasts since the platform was created.
The results are not entirely surprising. For example, the most listened to artist of the last 20 years is none other than Taylor Swift. But there are also some surprises, Beyoncé being the prime example.
Not only did the American singer not make the top 20 most listened to artists on Spotify, but none of her songs or albums are on the top 20 charts.
K-pop, a subgenre with a huge and very dedicated fan base, also got a single mention, via the band BTS.
According to the data, the most streamed album of all time on Spotify is “Un Verano Sin Ti” by Bad Bunny, and the most streamed track is “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd.
In the non-musical area, the most listened to podcast of all time is “The Joe Rogan Experience” and the most popular audio book is “A Court of Thorns and Roses”, the romantic fantasy book by American author Sarah J. Maas.
The most played songs of all time on Spotify:
- “Blinding Lights” – The Weeknd
- “Shape of You” – Ed Sheeran
- “Sweater Weather” – The Neighbourhood
- “Starboy” – The Weeknd & Daft Punk
- “As It Was” – Harry Styles
- “Someone You Loved” – Lewis Capaldi
- “Sunflower – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” – Post Malone and Swae Lee
- “One Dance” – Drake, Wizkid & Kyla
- “Perfect” – Ed Sheeran
- . “STAY (with Justin Bieber)” – The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber
- “Believer” – Imagine Dragons
- . “I Wanna Be Yours” – Arctic Monkeys
- . “Heat Waves” – Glass Animals
- . “lovely (with Khalid)” – Billie Eilish and Khalid
- “Yellow” – Coldplay
- . “The Night We Met” – Lord Huron
- “Closer” – The Chainsmokers and Halsey
- . “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” – Billie Eilish
- “Riptide” – Vance Joy
- . “Die With A Smile” – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
Most streamed artists in Spotify history:
- Taylor Swift
- Bad Bunny
- Drake
- The Weeknd
- Ariana Grande
- Ed Sheeran
- Justin Bieber
- Billie Eilish
- Eminem
- . Kanye West
- Travis Scott
- BTS
- Post Malone
- . Bruno Mars
- J Balvin
- . Rihanna
- Coldplay
- Kendrick Lamar
- Future
- . Juice WRLD
The most played albums on Spotify:
- “Un Verano Sin Ti” – Bad Bunny
- “Starboy” – The Weeknd
- “÷ (Deluxe)” – Ed Sheeran
- “SOUR” – Olivia Rodrigo
- “After Hours” – The Weeknd
- “SOS” – SZA
- “Hollywood's Bleeding” – Post Malone
- “Lover” – Taylor Swift
- “AM” – Arctic Monkeys
- . “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” – Billie Eilish
- “Future Nostalgia” – Dua Lipa
- “beerbongs & bentleys” – Post Malone
- “?” – XXXTENTACION
- . “MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO (BICHOTA SEASON)” – KAROL G
- “YHLQMDLG” – Bad Bunny
- . “Doo-Wops & Hooligans” – Bruno Mars
- “Views” – Drake
- “Midnights” – Taylor Swift
- “Scorpion” – Drake
- . “Beauty Behind The Madness” – The Weeknd
Most listened podcasts on Spotify:
- “The Joe Rogan Experience”
- Gemischtes Hack
- “Crime Junkie”
- “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard”
- “Last Podcast On The Left”
- “The Daily”
- “Fest & Flauschig”
- “Morbid”
- “My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark”
- . “Relatos de la Noche”
- “Call Her Daddy”
- “Don't Revive”
- “Pardon My Take”
- . “distractable”
- “La Cotorrisa”
- . “Dateline NBC”
- “Mordlust”
- . Baywatch Berlin
- “Hobbyless”
- . “Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén”
The most listened to audiobooks of all time on Spotify:
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- “The Fellowship of the Ring” by JRR Tolkien
- “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros
- “I'm Glad My Mom Died” by Jennette McCurdy
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
- “Lights Out” by Ted Koppel
- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
- “The 48 Laws of Power” by Robert Greene
- “The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden
- . “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros
- “The Woman in Me” by Britney Spears
- A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
- “Icebreaker” by Hannah Grace
- . “It Ends with Us” by Colleen Hoover
- “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- . “A Court of Silver Flames” by Sarah J. Maas
- “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” by Mark Manson
- “The Boyfriend” by Freida McFadden
- “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari
- . “Funny Story” by Emily Henry
