The end of the year is a time of joy and celebration while taking stock of everything that’s happened in the last 12 months. Christmas? Nooooo, you are mistaken. It’s the month when everyone is shown the data about what music they’ve been listening to and acts surprised when it’s presented to them in a pretty and digestible format. In the words of Marge Simpson… I just think it’s neat!
Now, while we’re all raring to go over our Spotify Wrapped roundups and post them on Instagram, the giant streaming service has also released some vital set of data: the overall most-streamed artists in the UK and worldwide on their platform.
Who has been streamed the most? There’s certainly no prize for you if the correct words of ‘Taylor Swift’ just came out of your mouth – has anything felt more inevitable? The biggest artist in the world had another giant year, with the Era’s tour hitting the UK and coming hot on the heels of The Tortured Poets Department. In other words: a perfect storm for Tay Tay to claim the throne for the most streamed artist in 2024.
Other familiar faces making up the lists (yes, Espresso does make it onto the most-streamed songs) include the top artists globally and most-streamed albums and audiobooks. There’s even a category for the UK’s most-streamed songs released pre-2004!
Most-streamed artists UK on Spotify
1. Taylor Swift
2. Drake
3. Kanye West
4. Billie Eilish
5. The Weeknd
6. Eminem
7. Sabrina Carpenter
8. Rihanna
9. Travis Scott
10. Noah Kahan
Most-streamed artists GLOBAL
1. Taylor Swift
2. The Weeknd
3. Bad Bunny
4. Drake
5. Billie Eilish
Most-streamed albums UK
1. The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology by Taylor Swift
2. Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter
3. Stick Season by Noah Kahan
4. Hit Me Hard And Soft by Billie Eilish
5. 1989 (Tylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift
6. Fireworks and Rollerblades by Benson Boone
7. The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess by Chappel Roan
8. GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo
9. Lover by Taylor Swift
10. External Sunshine by Ariana Grande
Most-streamed songs UK
1. Stick Season by Noah Kahan
2. Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter
3. Beautiful Things by Benson Boone
4. Too Sweet by Hozier
5. Lose Control by Teddy Swims
6. Birds Of A Feather by Billie Eilish
7. Good Luck, Babe! by Chappel Roan
8. A Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozy
9. Please, Please, Please by Sabrina Carpenter
10. Austin (Boots Stop Workin’) by Dasha
Most-streamed songs in the UK (released pre-2004)
1. Murder On The Dancefloor by Sophie Ellis-Bextor
2. Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield
3. Dreams by Fleetwood Mac
4. Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac
5. Yellow by Coldplay
6. Linger by The Cranberries
7. Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears
8. Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey
9. No Scrubs by TLC
10. Without Me by Eminem
UK top audiobooks
1. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
3. Politics On the Edge by Rory Stewart
4. Spare by Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex
5. A Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) by George R.R. Martin
Top audiobooks premium GLOBAL
1. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
4. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
5. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
How do these results compare with your own Wrapped pages? Are you in line with the Taylor fandom or is it the Weeknd that dominates your listening habits for this year – maybe you even saw a clip of your top artist thanking you for your support.
Either way, this is clearly what December is all about so we can now just pack it in for the year now that we’ve got all the Spotify data, right? Play through their features including your music evolution; your ‘longest listening streak’ with your favourite artists and, of course, the favourite feature that tells you what percentage of listeners you fall into for your top artist.