Music

Drake is Spotify’s Most Streamed Artist for 2016

Dec 1, 2016

Today, Spotify unveiled its annual top lists that takes a look back at the artists, albums, tracks and moments that made 2016 such an amazing year in music.

“Drake has been unstoppable this year – he’s a true global superstar,” said Stefan Blom, Spotify’s Chief Content & Chief Strategy Officer. ”With the top album and the top song this year, as well as his successful Summer Sixteen tour, Drake continues to engage his fans in a way that only Drake can; it’s no surprise he is dominating the music industry.”

Fans also discovered more new music and artists than ever before in 2016. ZAYN became the top breakout artist, and Discover Weekly was streamed more than 9 billion times this year.

Check out below for the full breakdown of this year’s rankings and musical trends and head to 2016 Wrapped at spotify.com/2016 for the top playlists of 2016, year in review playlists, videos, and more.

Spotify’s Global Year in Music 2016

Most Streamed Artists

For the second year in a row, Drake was the world’s most streamed artist with over 4.7 billion streams this year, more than doubling his record of 1.8 billion streams last year. In fact, Drake is the most streamed artist of all time on Spotify with over 8.7 billion streams.

Here are the top five artists for 2016:

Most Streamed Female Artists

Putting in ‘work’ this year with over 2.5 billion streams, Rihanna takes home the title of most streamed female artist for a second year in a row with Ariana Grande, Sia, Adele and Fifth Harmony rounding out the top 5:

Most Streamed Male Artists

Behind Drake and with the help of his late 2015 release of his album, Purpose, Justin Bieber shoots to the number two spot on the list of most streamed male artists followed by Twenty One Pilots, Kanye West and Coldplay:

Top Five Breakout Artists

One Direction fans still have love for ZAYN, putting him on top of this year’s list of breakout artists along with FRENSHIP, Anne-Marie, Madeintyo and Rob $tone. These breakout artists made their mark in 2016:

Most Streamed Tracks

Drake’s One Dance made history this year by overtaking last year’s winner Lean On by Major Lazer (ft. MØ and DJ Snake), as the most popular song ever on Spotify with almost 970 million streams.

Most Streamed Albums

After dropping Views in April, Drake’s album has racked up over 2.45 billion streams on Spotify in 2016, making it the most streamed album of the year. Here are the top 5 most streamed albums for 2016:

Most Popular Playlists

Of Spotify’s 2 billion+ playlists, Today’s Top Hits was the most popular this year with over nearly 12 million followers

Fun Facts: