The most streamed artist on Spotify for the second year straight is Bad Bunny from Puerto Rico. His songs were streamed an average of 9.1bn times compared to 8.3bn in 2020. This shows how popular the rapper and singer continues to grow. Bad Bunny has released two studio albums in 2020 and a compilation in 2021. He also released a number of singles, including Yonaguni, which reached the top 10 in the US. In the Top 5 most streamed artists, he is closely followed by Drake, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and BTS.
After the huge success of her debut album, Sour, the 18-year old pop star from California Olivia Rodrigo was the most streamed song or album on Spotify. She was little-known beyond her teenage fans who loved her acting. However, her songs about love and teenage angst were a huge hit and she was the only artist nominated for all four categories of the 2022 Grammy Awards.
Drivers License, her breakup song, topped the Spotify chart with 1.1bn streamed and was second only to Dynamite by BTS on Apple Music’s most-streamed songs list. Rodrigo is also No 4 on Spotify’s global playlist with Good 4 U, a pop-punk track that was both the most streamed in the UK via Apple Music and Spotify.
The rest of Spotify’s Top 5 was comprised of Lil Nas X (Call me By Your Name), Justin Bieber’s Stay and The Kid Laroi. Dua Lipa’s Levitating rounded out the Top 5, while Ariana Grande’s Positions and Pop Smoke’s for the Night appeared on Apple’s.
Future Nostalgia, Lipa’s 2020 album, remained very popular in 2018. It was followed by full-lengths by Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran, as well as Doja Cat’s full-lengths.
Bad Bunny’s popularity in the UK is much lower than elsewhere. Drake is the most streamed artist on Spotify. The Joe Rogan Experience was both the most-listened podcast in the UK and globally.
