For those who use social media, you’ve likely seen your friends posting about their streaming numbers, from the hundreds to the hundreds of thousands. (Well, we certainly have.) That’s because on Wednesday (December 1), the popular music service Spotify released its yearly global streaming numbers for 2021. Everything from the local up-and-comers to the most globally streamed artists, songs, and albums were covered.
Videos by American Songwriter
In terms of the most streamed artist, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny landed at the top spot, edging out singer/songwriter Taylor Swift. This was the second year in a row that Bad Bunny achieved the feat.
BTS landed in the top three most-streamed artists without releasing an album in 2021, a testament to the K-Pop seven-piece boy band.
Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour landed as the most-streamed record on Spotify in 2021, beating out Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia. The 18-year-old songwriter had a great year. Rodrigo landed on the top spot for songs, too, with her track “driver’s license” edging out Lil Nas X’s “Montero.” Rodrigo also landed at No. 4 with her song, “good 4 u.”
The streaming service posted about the numbers on social media. Also on the top 10 streamed artists list were Drake, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, J Balvin, Ariana Grande, Rodrigo, and the late Juice WRLD.
Spotify also shared the top streamed albums of the year, which included Bieber’s Justice, Ed Sheeran’s =, Doja Cat’s Planet Her, Lil Nas X’s Montero, The Weeknd’s After Hours, Bad Bunny’s El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo, Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon, and Ariana Grande’s Positions.
The biggest hits of 2021 included The Kid LAROI’s “Stay (With Justin Bieber),” Dua Lipa’s “Levitating (ft. DaBaby),” Bieber’s “Peaches (ft. Daniel Caesar & Giveon),” Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More (ft. SZA),” The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves,” and Maneskin’s “Beggin’.”
In other recent Spotify streaming news, earlier this year, Adele smashed the single-day streaming record on the service.
On October 14, she unveiled her first new single in over five years, “Easy On Me”—within 24 hours, it had racked up over 24 million streams on Spotify alone. This impressive feat breaks Spotify’s one-day streaming record on two fronts: not only does it constitute the most successful first-day of any song in streaming history, but it’s the most-streamed song in a single day period.
The previous record-holder for the most streams in a single day was the smash hit of the summer: BTS’ “Butter,” which raked in 11 million streams on May 21.
Check out Spotify’s For The Record Podcast below to learn more about Wrapped this year.
Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
