Taylor Swift Remains the Queen of Spotify

Spotify unleashed its annual Spotify Wrapped playlist on Wednesday, bringing subscribers around the world a run-down of their most played songs and artists. Data shows that pop queen Taylor Swift has once more topped the global charts as the most streamed artist this year, after having come first in 2023 and second in 2022.

The Weeknd comes in second place worldwide and in first place as the most streamed male artist. The rap/R&B singer is followed by Bad Bunny, who has featured in the top three positions for the past three years. As this chart shows, the rap/R&B genre as well as pop tend to perform well with a global audience. Rounding off the top ten in 2024 are Peso Pluma, Kanye West, Ariana Grande and Feid. 

The top five globally streamed songs this year are Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso, followed by Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things, Billie Eilish’s Birds of a Feather, Floyy Menor and Cris Mj’s Gata Only and Teddy Swims’ Lose Control. Pop stars to have risen to the top of the charts in 2024 include the likes of Chappell Roan, Shaboozey and the aforementioned Sabrina Carpenter. 

So, how did Spotify Wrapped come to be? 

In 2016, Spotify renamed its “Year In Music” feature with the title “Spotify Wrapped” and also launched the “Your Top Songs” playlist. In 2021, the music streaming platform then introduced videos from fans’ favorite artists as well as the “Audio Aura” feature to show “top music moods”. 

In 2023, Spotify Wrapped showed listeners which part of the world listened to music most similar to them, while in 2024, the theme focuses on listeners’ “Music Evolution”. This latest addition nods to this year’s successful collaborations between artists such as Billie Eilish and Charlie xcx, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars and Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus, with the company explaining that it is about celebrating how “unexpected genres emerge and merge, timeless influences meet fresh ideas, and what once was niche now shapes pop culture.”