Taylor Swift is the world’s most-streamed artist for the second year in a row, according to streaming giant Spotify’s annual personal listening trends report released Wednesday, dubbed “2024 Wrapped.”
Swift held on to the top spot with more than 26.6 billion streams in 2024. He was followed by The Canadian singer The Weeknd, the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, the Canadian rapper Drake and the American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish.
Last year, Swift managed to beat out “Bad Bunny”, which has held the top spot for three consecutive years since 2020, to become the world’s most streamed artist.
In addition to her individual streams, Swift also claimed The title of the world’s most streamed album of 2024 with “The Tortured Poets Department.” It was followed by Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet.
A number of new features were added to Spotify Wrapped this year, including “Your Music Evolution,” a data set that tracks each user’s music-listening habits.
In addition, the “Your Top Artist” feature has been improved with new metrics such as “Longest listening record” and “Top Listeners”.
It’s no surprise that globally known artists occupy the top spot on Spotify’s Wrapped list, given their significant presence on streaming platforms and their large and loyal fan bases. For independent artists, it takes billions of streams to reach the top of the global charts.
Streaming music services already account for the vast majority of music industry revenues. In America, streaming accounts for 84 per cent of music industry revenues, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) 2024 global sales report, streaming accounted for 67.3% of global revenue.
Spotify is the world’s largest streaming platform, with about 31% of the market. Spotify reportedly has 626 million users in more than 180 markets, 246 million of which are subscribers.