Spotify has been most global users’ go-to audio streaming service platform.
In its 16 years of dominance, Spotify has created huge strides within the music industry, setting the standard for other online streaming music services.
Spotify’s statistics show that it does not plan to slow down soon. Likewise, these numbers expose so many things other businesses can learn.
Here are all the essential Spotify statistics, trends, and facts.
Top 9 Spotify Statistics (Editor’s Pick)
- 17% of Warner Music Group’s 2022 revenues were attributed to its licensing partnership with Spotify.
- Spotify has paid the music industry over $30 billion in royalties.
- BTS was the most followed K-pop artist on Spotify in South Korea in 2022.
- Spotify was projected to hit 32.5 million podcast listeners monthly in 2022.
- American Spotify podcast listeners could grow to over 100 million by 2024.
- Most paying Spotify subscribers are located in Europe and North America globally.
- Spotify generated over €9.67 billion in revenue in 2021.
- Spotify’s operating income in 2021 was €94 million.
- Spotify’s research and development expenses grew to €912 million in 2021.
Infographic
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/spotify-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/top-spotify-statistics.png" alt="Top 9 Spotify Statistics" width="768" border="0" height="509.45273631841" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/top-spotify-statistics-1536x1019.png 1536w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/top-spotify-statistics-1024x679.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/top-spotify-statistics.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/top-spotify-statistics-300x199.png 300w" sizes="auto"></a>
General Spotify Facts
1. Daniel Ek, co-founder and CEO of Spotify, is worth $2.4 billion.
In 2019, Daniel’s net worth was around $2.2 billion. It dropped to $2 billion in 2020 but went over double in 2021 to $4.6 billion. As of 2022, his net worth stood at $2.4 billion.
2. Spotify has been operating at a loss since its inception.
Spotify suffered a net loss of €39 million in 2021. While this might seem like a huge loss, it is a decrease in net loss from those reported between 2019 and 2020.
| Year | Net Loss (Million Euros) |
|---|---|
| 2015 | -230 |
| 2016 | -539 |
| 2017 | -1,235 |
| 2018 | -78 |
| 2019 | -186 |
| 2020 | -581 |
| 2021 | -39 |
3. Spotify uploaded 100,000 tracks per day in 2022.
As of February 2021, 60,000 new tracks were uploaded to the platform daily.
But in 2022, it averaged over one track upload per second.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/spotify-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-track-uploads-yearly.png" alt="Approximate Daily Spotify Track Uploads by Year" width="768" border="0" height="784" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-track-uploads-yearly-1504x1536.png 1200w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-track-uploads-yearly-1003x1024.png 1003w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-track-uploads-yearly.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-track-uploads-yearly-294x300.png 294w" sizes="auto"></a>
4. Spotify’s stock price declined through 2022.
SPOT began 2022 with a share price of $244.16 on the NYSE.
At the close of Friday, December 30, 2022, the share price was down by 67.7% YTD to $78.95. It hit an all-time low of $72.36 on December 15 and has not recovered much since then.
5. Spotify has achieved a milestone of 205 million total subscribers.
Spotify has officially surpassed 200 million subscribers. The breakdown of subscriber milestones per year is found below:
| Year | Subscriber Milestones |
|---|---|
| March 2011 | 1 million |
| May 2014 | 10 million |
| March 2017 | 50 million |
| April 2019 | 100 million |
| January 2023 | 205 million |
6. There are currently over 100 million tracks on Spotify as of 2023.
As a Spotify user (free or paid), you have access to over 100 million tracks.
7. Most Spotify employees were based in the US as of 2021.
In 2021, approximately 3,435 Spotify employees were based in the United States. Coming in second was Sweden (1,845 employees) came in second, and the United Kingdom (with 576) was third.
8. 17% of Warner Music Group’s 2022 revenues were attributed to its licensing partnership with Spotify.
However, this was a decrease from the year before.
Global Spotify Statistics
9. Spotify was the most downloaded music and audio app in the Google Play Store worldwide.
As of September 2022, Spotify generated 11.8 million downloads from Android users. Coming in second was Shazam, with 5.44 million downloads from Android users globally.
10. Spotify is available in 184 countries globally.
Spotify is available in most of Europe, America, Asia, Oceania, and Africa.
As of 2023, Spotify is available in 184 markets worldwide. The US and Europe account for 53% of Spotify’s users and 67% of the streaming platform’s revenue.
11. Spotify was the most-downloaded music app in the Apple App Store worldwide.
As of September 2022, Spotify generated 3.28 million downloads from iPhone users. Coming in second was YouTube Music, with 1.1 million downloads globally.
12. Spotify has paid the music industry over $30 billion in royalties.
This includes over $7 billion paid in 2021 alone, more than double the amount paid in 2017.
Spotify Listening Statistics
13. “Daily Affirmation” searches on Spotify grew by over 400% in 2022.
14. 238,000 songs received over a million streams in 2021 alone.
Spotify reported that in 2021, 718,000 songs surpassed a million all-time streams, 238,000 received over a million streams (for the year), and 230 songs achieved a billion streams worldwide.
15. Harry Styles’ “As It Was” was the most-streamed song of 2022.
At the time of writing, this song currently has a staggering 1,899,898,295 streams on Spotify.
Spotify Artist Statistics
16. BTS was the most followed K-pop artist on Spotify in South Korea in 2022.
As of 2022, BTS had around 47.7 million followers. In the same year, other BTS members released solo songs that were hit among listeners, further solidifying their dominance as a K-pop group.
17. Bad Bunny has been the most streamed Spotify artist for three years.
In 2022, Bad Bunny was the world’s most-streamed artist, a spot he has held since 2020. Spotify celebrated this milestone by turning the heart button into the singer’s custom red-heart icon. He currently has over 65 million monthly listeners.
18. Connor Price crossed 7.9 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
This hard-working Canadian independent rapper, Connor Price, hit a staggering 7.9 million monthly listeners on Spotify in Q1 2023. He did all this through self-promoting on social media platforms such as YouTube Shorts and TikTok.
The most viral artists had their music most frequently shared on social platforms.
Taylor Swift was followed by The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, BTS, and Lana Del Ray.
20. Spotify streams of “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” increased by more than 8,700%.
“Stranger Things 4’s” release caused Kate Bush’s 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” streams to increase by more than 8,700% globally in Spring 2022.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/spotify-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-artist-numbers.png" alt="Interesting Spotify Artist Numbers" width="768" border="0" height="326.94747373687" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-artist-numbers-1536x654.png 1536w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-artist-numbers-1024x436.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-artist-numbers.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-artist-numbers-300x128.png 300w" sizes="auto"></a>
21. “The Marshall Mathers LP” by Eminem was the most streamed throwback album in 2022.
The Marshall Mathers LP topped the list of most-streamed throwback albums (those released over 20 years ago) in 2022.
22. The most streamed song in Italy in 2022 was Brividi by Mahmood and BLANCO.
The song received over 17,000 streams in the second week of February 2022.
Coming in second with 6.3 thousand streams was “Ovunque Sarai” by Irama.
23. 130 artists generated publishing and recording royalties of over $5 million on Spotify alone.
This 2021 data represents a 160% increase from 2017, when only 50 artists generated that amount.
Spotify Podcast Statistics
24. “The Joe Rogan Experience” was the most popular Spotify podcast in 2022.
Coming in second was the Call Her Daddy podcast by Alex Cooper came in second, while Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain grabbed the third spot.
25. Spotify was projected to hit 32.5 million podcast listeners monthly in 2022.
In 2022, Spotify’s expected monthly podcast listeners in the US surpassed those of Apple Podcast (28.5 million) to reach 32.5 million. Both numbers represent an increase in listener numbers compared to the previous year.
26. American Spotify podcast listeners could grow to over 100 million by 2024.
That is up from 75.9 million in 2020.
Spotify Playlist Statistics
27. There was a 620% increase in streams of the “Country Wedding” playlist.
In spring 2022, wedding content on Spotify skyrocketed, giving this playlist a massive boost.
28. There was a 320% surge in listener-generated feral girl summer playlists in 2022.
Some of the top added songs include “Psycho” by Maisie Peters, “Get Into It (Yuh)” by Doja Cat, and “Thot Shit” by Megan Thee Stallion.
Highly-featured tracks included “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” by Natalie Cole, “You are the Best Thing” by Ray LaMontagne, and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) 2019 Remaster” by James Taylor.
30. Spotify users streamed the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever official playlist over 4,000% more after the movie’s release.
While the playlist had been out before the movie hit theatres, users streamed the playlist even more after the movie debuted.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/spotify-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/highest-spotify-playlist-surges.png" alt="Highest Spotify Playlist Surges" width="768" border="0" height="912" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/highest-spotify-playlist-surges-1293x1536.png 1200w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/highest-spotify-playlist-surges-862x1024.png 862w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/highest-spotify-playlist-surges.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/highest-spotify-playlist-surges-253x300.png 253w" sizes="auto"></a>
31. “It’s Corn” was added to over half a million user playlists since its release in August 2022.
The “It’s Corn” track by Tariq, the Gregory Brothers, and Recess Therapy has been added to more than 520,000 user playlists globally.
32. “They’re a 10” playlists surged by more than 205%.
The Summer 2022 surge saw common music additions like “jealousy, jealousy” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Backstabber” by Kesha, and “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” by Ariana Grande.
33. The resurgence of the “Little Miss” meme increased user-generated “Little Miss” playlists.
Summer 2022 saw a nearly 1,400% increase in user-generated “Little Miss” Spotify playlists.
34. The most streamed weekly track globally was “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals.
In February 2022, “Heat Waves” had 31.67 million streams worldwide in the second week. Following close behind were “abcdefu” by GAYLE (28.22 million streams) and “STAY (with Justin Bieber)” by The Kid LAROI, with over 27 million streams.
35. “First Class” by Jack Harlow was the USA’s most streamed weekly track on Spotify in 2022.
In the week ending May 12, 2022, this track received 11.94 million streams from American users. Moscow Mule by Bad Bunny was tight in the race with 11.59 million streams, while Harry Styles made third with his As It Was single (11.42 million streams).
36. The Kid LAROI’s “STAY” was the most-streamed weekly track on Spotify in the UK.
In the week ending August 12, 2021, “STAY” scored 3.8 million streams among Spotify UK users. Next up was “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran, with 3.5 million streams.
Spotify User Demographics and Statistics
37. Spotify reported 456 million active users worldwide in 2022.
In Q3 2022, Spotify reported an increase of over 70 million active users in just one year. This brought the overall number of active users to 456 million.
This number was up from 172 million in Q3 2021. Spotify’s subscriber count has drastically increased within the last few years to almost 4x since early 2017.
39. Spotify’s ARPU dropped to €4.29 in 2021.
Although its ARPU has been on a steady decline since 2017, the most significant drop was recorded between 2016 and 2017.
40. Most paying Spotify subscribers are in Europe and North America.
In Q3 2022, both regions accounted for 67% of total paying subscribers.
Europe alone represented 39% of the premium subscriber count, making it Spotify’s largest market.
41. 30% of Americans used Spotify monthly in 2021.
This percentage represents a 1% increase from 2020. The same growth occurred in weekly usage, increasing from 22% to 28%.
42. Spotify generated over €9.67 billion in revenue in 2021.
In contrast, its revenue from ad placement and premium subscribers was 7.88 billion in 2020.
These revenues from both segments are the highest reported to date.
Premium revenue grew by over €4 billion since 2017’s 3.6 billion
Spotify continued leading the market with 187.8 million subscribers in Q2 2022. Despite this, its market share has steadily declined since Q4 2020, especially from its all-time high of 33.2 % in Q2 2018.
| Music Subscription Services | Subscribers (millions) | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Spotify | 187.8 | 30.5 |
| Apple Music | 84.7 | 13.8 |
| Tencent Music | 82.7 | 13.4 |
| Amazon Music | 82.2 | 13.3 |
| YouTube Music | 55.1 | 8.9 |
| NetEase | 37.6 | 6.1 |
| Yandex | 13.7 | 2.2 |
| Deezer | 9.5 | 1.5 |
| Others | 62.8 | 10.2 |
45. Spotify’s operating income in 2021 was €94 million.
This new figure represented significant growth, a rebound from a €293 million loss in 2020.
46. Spotify’s 2021 gross global profit was €2.47 billion.
Ad placement brought in €117 million, a significant rise from 2020.
47. Spotify’s research and development expenses grew to €912 million in 2021.
Spotify’s R&D expenses were up by €75 million from 2020, a difference exceeding the R&D costs for 2013 (€73 million).
48. Spotify’s cost of sales amounted to $7.08 billion.
Spotify’s total cost of goods sold in 2021 was $4.5 billion more than recorded in 2016.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/spotify-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-cost-of-sales.png" alt="Spotify Cost of Sales" width="768" border="0" height="351.53576788394" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-cost-of-sales-1536x703.png 1536w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-cost-of-sales-1024x469.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-cost-of-sales.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/spotify-cost-of-sales-300x137.png 300w" sizes="auto"></a>
49. 73.2% of Spotify’s 2021 revenues went toward paying fees and royalties.
Yearly revenue share (from 2017) that goes into paying fees and royalties are below:
| Year | Share of costs in revenue |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 79.24% |
| 2018 | 74.27% |
| 2019 | 74.54% |
| 2020 | 74.43% |
| 2021 | 73.2% |
50. Spotify digital album downloads amounted to $282.2 million in the US.
This is less than half the figure recorded in 2017 ($668.5 million).
Feeling the Music Yet?
The above statistics show that Spotify remains the number one platform for streaming music. Additionally, its recent move towards podcasting is paying off in terms of revenue and additional listeners.
Unfortunately, profit and revenue numbers paint a different story.
One can only wonder about Spotify’s profitability and long-term sustainability model.
Nonetheless, Spotify is set to release some exciting new features in 2023 that are worth looking out for by listeners and artists.
And if you find yourself in a region where Spotify is not streaming, get these VPNs for Spotify to unblock access to your favorite artists, albums, playlists, and podcasts in minutes.
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