Stockholm, Sweden (December 7, 2020)—Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny comes out on top in Spotify’s Top 10 artists list of 2020 with more than 8.3 billion streams worldwide while his album, YHLQMDLG (Yo hago lo que me da la gana), is the number one most-streamed album, according to Spotify Wrapped..
Spotify’s annual Wrapped end-of-year listings once again highlight the listening preferences of the music streamer’s global audience. In second place behind Bad Bunny is Canada’s Drake with Colombian reggaeton star J Balvin in third. The fourth most-streamed artist is the late rapper Juice WRLD, who hailed from Chicago. The Weeknd — Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, another Canadian — closes out the top five.
Despite Spotify not yet being available in their native South Korea, K-pop favorites BTS are sixth most-streamed worldwide. U.S. natives complete the list: The top 10’s only two women artists, Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, are at numbers seven and eight, respectively, while Post Malone slips eight places from 2019 to ninth and Travis Scott is at number 10.
With XY chromosome pairs dominating the global list, Spotify also breaks out the most-streamed female artists. Behind Eilish at number one and Swift at number two are Ariane Grande, Dua Lipa and Halsey.
Immersive Audio for Music In Play?
As for Spotify’s most-streamed song of 2020, “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd — who was totally overlooked by Recording Academy voters in the recent GRAMMY Award nominations — takes the top slot with almost 1.6 billion streams. Australia’s Tones and I, the stage name of 20-something singer Toni Watson, takes the number two position with her 2019 ear worm, “Dance Monkey.” Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” was third-most streamed. “Roses – Imanbek Remix” by Imanbek and SAINt JHN is in fourth place and “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa closes out the top five.
In second place behind Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG on 2020’s most-streamed album list is The Weeknd’s After Hours. Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding album, the second most-streamed full-length worldwide on Spotify last year, proves that it has legs, dropping only one spot to third place this year. Harry Styles’ Fine Line and Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa are at numbers four and five, respectively.
Spotify offers more than just music, of course. The platform’s list of most-streamed podcasts offers some insight into the most popular genres. At the top of the list is society and culture followed by comedy, lifestyle and health, arts and entertainment, and education. Wellness podcast listening figures were up 180% over 2019 with Unlocking Us with Brené Brown and Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories among the reported favorites.
More 18-to-24-year-olds listened to podcasts for the first time in 2020, Spotify reports. The most popular time period overall for podcast listening was in the early morning, 6 a.m. through 9 a.m.
With the coronavirus pandemic confining many people to their homes, Spotify also reports an increase in nostalgia-themed and work-from-home-themed playlists. Spotify observed a more than 1,400% increase in work-from-home themed playlists. Garden-themed playlists grew more than 430%, there was an almost 50% increase in at-home haircut playlists and cleaning-themed playlists were up 40%. There was an overall uptick in people streaming from home, observed by way of the playlists they created, including a 55% increase in the number of listeners streaming from gaming consoles.
This year’s social justice campaigns were reflected in Spotify’s playlists, too. The streamer reports that there were more than 64 million Black Lives Matter playlists, with nearly 65,000 of the playlists created by Spotify listeners including BLM or Black Lives Matter in the title.
Spotify Wrapped • https://newsroom.spotify.com/2020-12-01/the-trends-that-shaped-streaming-in-2020