As 2019 draws to a close, so too does a stellar year of streaming on Spotify. You may be reflecting back on the past 12 months, thinking about your own music discoveries and the songs you repeated over, and over, and over. (You'll be able to check them out on your personal Wrapped cards later this week). We're doing the same-but for the entire world.
We dove into the newcomers, showstoppers, and top performers who united the globe with music and podcasts this year. And ahead of the brand-new decade, we also looked back on the last 10 years in music to reveal who dominated global listening.
So, what did the world listen to in 2019?
This year, Post Malone claimed the spot of most-streamed artist with over 6.5 billion streams from fans around the globe. It's the rapper-singer-songwriter's first time topping Spotify's Wrapped list, and he did it just 12 weeks after dropping his album Hollywood's Bleeding (which also happens to be the second most-streamed album globally this year). His collaboration with Swae Lee on Sunflower from Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse rounded out the top three most-streamed songs of the year, which gives the artist a spot in each of our three major music categories (top artists, top songs, and top albums).
The second-most-streamed artist of the year is 17-year-old singer-songwriter and first time Grammy nominee Billie Eilish, who by now, definitely deserves that crown. In this year alone, she dropped her album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? and surpassed 6 billion streams. The album has proven to be the top-streamed release of 2019, marking a milestone-Billie is the first female artist to have her album top the Wrapped most-streamed album category. Her dark staccato hit bad guy also ranks as the second-most-streamed song of the year.
Finally, Ariana Grande released her immensely popular album thank u, next in February, propelling her to number three on Spotify's list of most-streamed-artists globally. Her song 7 rings was also in the top five most streamed this year, giving Ariana a strong two years in the top 10 of Spotify's Wrapped list. Listeners also showed Taylor Swift lots of love, making her the year's third top-streamed female artist after her album Lover generated popular tracks like ME! and You Need to Calm Down.
When it comes to the most-streamed female artist of the decade, Ariana once again takes the cake. Only tears of joy left to cry for this one. (And the top male artist? Last year's Scorpion king, Drake.)
The year's top song comes from the duo that took the Northern Hemisphere's summer by storm: Se orita by Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabello saw more than 1 billion streams. After Se orita, bad guy, Sunflower, and 7 rings, the year's fifth-most-streamed track came from Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus. They took their horse all the way to the front with Old Town Road - Remix.
This year was a big one for podcast growth on Spotify. There are now more than 500,000 podcast titles available, and our podcast audience has grown by more than 50% since the start of the year. We've also seen a 39% increase in podcast hours consumed by listeners quarter over quarter. People are clearly loving podcasts, tuning in the most to Spotify Original The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory and Mal, followed by My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark and Germany's Gemischtes Hack. The most-streamed podcast genre of 2019 was comedy, showing that laughter is truly universal.
Take a look at some of the world's top songs, artists, genres, and trends:
-- Can't get enough of the chart toppers? Check out our lists of the top artists, songs, albums, groups, podcasts, and more below-and don't forget to tune in later this week to the Wrapped microsite to see your personal favorites and receive a playlist based on your tastes. Plus, we've also created the ultimate Playlist of the Decade: the biggest songs of the past 10 years according to fan streaming.
So without further ado
Spotify's Global Top Lists 2019: Most-Streamed Artists
Post Malone
Billie Eilish
Ariana Grande
Ed Sheeran
Bad Bunny
Most-Streamed Female Artists
Billie Eilish
Ariana Grande
Taylor Swift
Camila Cabello
Halsey
Most-Streamed Male Artists
Post Malone
Ed Sheeran
Bad Bunny
Khalid
J Balvin
Most-Streamed Tracks
Se orita Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes
bad guy Billie Eilish
Sunflower Post Malone, Swae Lee
7 Rings Ariana Grande
Old Town Road Remix Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus
Most-Streamed Albums
WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish
Hollywood's Bleeding Post Malone
thank u, next Ariana Grande
No.6 Collaborations Project Ed Sheeran
Shawn Mendes Shawn Mendes
Most-Streamed Podcasts
The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory & Mal
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
Gemischtes Hack
Fest & Flauschig
The Misfits Podcast
Most-Streamed Spotify Original Podcasts
The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory & Mal
Gemischtes Hack
Fest & Flauschig
Serial Killers
Herrengedeck Der Podcast
A Decade Wrapped Spotify's Top Lists 2010-2019 Most-Streamed Artists of the Decade (Global)
Drake
Ed Sheeran
Post Malone
Ariana Grande
Eminem
Most-Streamed Female Artists of the Decade (Global)
Ariana Grande
Rihanna
Taylor Swift
Sia
Beyonc
Most-Streamed Male Artists of the Decade (Global)
Drake
Ed Sheeran
Post Malone
Eminem
The Weeknd
Most-Streamed Tracks of the Decade (Global)
Shape of You Ed Sheeran
One Dance Drake, Kyla, WizKid
rockstar (feat. 21 Savage) 21 Savage, Post Malone
Closer Halsey, The Chainsmokers
Thinking out Loud Ed Sheeran
Click here to download the infographic.
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As 2019 draws to a close, so too does a stellar year of streaming on Spotify. You may be reflecting back on the past 12 months, thinking about your own music discoveries and the songs you repeated over, and over, and over. (You'll be able to check them out on your personal Wrapped cards later this week). We're doing the same-but for the entire world.
