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The All Time Biggest Songs, Artists, and Albums on Spotify

Daniel Sanchez

So, who are the top artists and songs on Spotify?

On October 7th, 2008, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, along with a group of other executives, launched their fledgling streaming music service.  They had announced and confirmed licensing deals with the major music labels.

Ten years later, the service now has over 180 million monthly active users, with around 46% – or 83 million – paying for a subscription.  According to the company, Spotify has paid over €10 billion ($11.5 billion) to rights holders.  The streaming music service now has over 2,000 genres.

To celebrate the milestone, Spotify has published a new list looking back at the past ten years.  Here are the top-ranked songs, artists, and albums dating back to ’08.

Top Streamed Artists of All Time

  1. Drake
  2. Ed Sheeran
  3. Eminem
  4. The Weeknd
  5. Rihanna
  6. Kanye West
  7. Coldplay
  8. Justin Bieber
  9. Calvin Harris
  10. Ariana Grande

Breaking down the top-streamed artists, Drake took the top spot.

Ed Sheeran, Eminem, The Weeknd, and Rihanna rounded out the top 5.  Kanye West was the 6th-most streamed artist on the platform, followed by Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Calvin Harris, and Ariana Grande.

Top Streamed Songs of All Time

  1. ‘Shape of You,’ Ed Sheeran
  2.  ‘One Dance,’ Drake
  3. ‘Closer,’ The Chainsmokers and Halsey
  4. ‘rockstar,’ Post Malone feat. 21 Savage
  5. ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ Ed Sheeran
  6. ‘Lean On,’ Major Lazer, MO, and DJs Snake
  7. ‘Despacito’ Remix, Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber
  8. ‘Love Yourself,’ Justin Bieber
  9. ‘Sorry,’ Justin Bieber
  10. ‘Don’t Let Me Down,’ The Chainsmokers

Looking at the most-streamed songs on the service, Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ remains #1.

Drake’s ‘One Dance,’ Spotify’s 2016 most-streamed song, came in at #2.  The Chainsmokers and Halsey’s ‘Closer’ took the third spot, followed by Post Malone’s ‘rockstar’ featuring 21 Savage and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud.’

Major Lazer, MO, and DJs Snake’s ‘Lean On’ came in at #6.  Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber’s ‘Despacito’ Remix took the seventh spot, followed by Justin Bieber’s ‘Love Yourself’ and ‘Sorry’ at #8 and #9, respectively.  The Chainsmokers rounded out the top 10 with ‘Don’t Let Me Down.’

Top Streamed Albums of All Time

  1. ÷, Ed Sheeran
  2. Purpose, Justin Bieber
  3. Views, Drake
  4. x, Ed Sheeran
  5. beerbongs & Bentleys, Post Malone
  6. Starboy, The Weeknd
  7. Scorpion, Drake
  8. Beauty Behind The Madness, The Weekend
  9. Stoney, Post Malone
  10. DAMN., Kendrick Lamar

Viewing the most-streamed albums worldwide, Ed Sheeran’s ÷ still ranks as #1.

Justin Bieber’s Purpose took #2, followed by Drake’s Views, Ed Sheeran’s x, and Post Malone’s beerbongs & Bentleys.  The Weeknd’s Starboy took #6, followed by Drake’s Scorpion and The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind The Madness.  Post Malone’s Stoney and Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. rounded out the top 10.

Rihanna also became the first artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify, achieving the feat in 2013.

Breaking down the first 10 artists to reach 1 billion streams in order, David Guetta and Eminem also surpassed the milestone in 2013.  Kanye West, Avicii, Kanye West, Coldplay, Jay Z, Katy Perry, Drake, and Pitbull achieved the feat a year later.

Rihanna also emerged as the most-streamed female artist on Spotify.

Breaking down the most-streamed female artists list, Ariana Grande, Sia, Beyoncé, and Nicki Minaj rounded out the top 5.  Adele ranked at #6, followed by Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, and Shakira.

Since the service’s inception, users have streamed a total of 16,858,080 years of listening time.  The streaming music service now has over 40 million tracks, with over 3 billion playlists.

Giving a quick flashback to October 2008, Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’ was the most-streamed track.  Lady Gaga also emerged as the most-streamed artist that month.  Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends became the most-streamed album.

Breaking down the most-streamed song each year…

The Killers’ ‘Human’ took the top spot in Spotify’s inaugural year.  In 2009, the honor went to The Black Eyed Peas for ‘I Gotta Feeling.’

In 2010, Eminem and Rihanna’s ‘Love The Way You Lie’ emerged as the most-streamed song.  A year later, Don Omar and Lucenzo’s ‘Danza Kuduro’ took the top spot.  In 2012, Gotye and Kimbra’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ was the most-streamed song, followed by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ ‘Can’t Hold Us’ featuring Ray Dalton the next year.

Thanks to the success of Despicable Me 2 in theaters, Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’ became Spotify’s most-streamed song in 2014.  Then, in 2015, listeners on the service streamed Major Lazer, MO, and DJ Snake’s ‘Lean On’ the most.  Drake’s ‘One Dance’ was the most-streamed song in 2016, followed by Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ a year later.

 

Featured image by Spotify.