Apple may have beaten them to it, dropping Apple Music’s 2024 Replay playlists into subscriber’s account yesterday, but the real year-end big news remains today’s release of Spotify’s Wrapped 2024 charts. The increasingly relevant and popular annual Spotify list of most streamed songs and artists on the platform has become the benchmark metric for “How was your year?” for every musician.
And while Wrapped drops tailor-made lists of what you’ve been listening from across the year for its users, it’s the year-end charts – a chance for the industry to get an angle on an artist’s success in an age where ‘record sales’ mean nothing – that are the hot topic.
A good showing in Spotify’s Wrapped is your passport to festival headline slots, movie soundtrack offers and cameos and celebrity endorsements from soft drinks to soft play. Basically, everywhere you can make money from music, that isn’t actually music, because – ironically – nobody makes money from music except for Spotify.
So who are this year’s winners and losers?
It’ll perhaps come as no surprise to find that Taylor Swift has had a great 2024. In fact, she had a great 2023 too, meaning that today’s anointment as the most streamed artist on the platform means that it’s the second year in a row that she’s won it. Hardly surprising considering the level of hard work and promotion she’s put in globally, with her Era’s tour spanning the planet since March 2023 and still in progress.
Swift scored 26.6 billion streams globally with The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Drake and Billie Eilish (in that order) rounding out the top five.
Swift similarly won the prize of Spotify’s most streamed album with The Tortured Poets Department coming in ahead of rival releases by Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Karol G and Ariana Grande. Worth noting that female artists were responsible for eight of the top ten albums this year.
Worth mentioning that Swift won most streamed artist and album on Apple's Replay charts too.
Women score eight out of ten of the top slots
“It’s been a standout year for female artists,” Sulinna Ong, Spotify's global head of editorial at their press conference. “In all my time at Spotify, I’ve never seen women dominate the eight spots for global albums of the year. So long may this continue.”
However, while Swift bagged artist and album wins, the coveted prize of the world’s most streamed song went to another artist… And 2024’s winner is… Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter. Hardly a surprise given that it’s been practically everywhere all year, scoring an impressive 1.6 billion streams on Spotify’s service alone.
Beautiful Things by Benson Boone, Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish, Gata Only by FloyyMenor and Cris Mj, and Lose Control by Teddy Swims round out the five.
Notably Swift only just made the top ten, with her best track – Cruel Summer – sliding in at number nine.
Special mention (and explanation) to Spotify’s ‘Most Viral’ charts at this point. Not to be confused with streams, Most Viral measures how often a track was shared to social media (and thereby spread to a wider audience) indicating those tracks that users want to broadcast their endorsement of or which carry a more personal connection (rather than tracks simply enjoyed as guilty pleasures in private). Yes, of course Spotify can see (and measure) such a thing.
Top Viral track was Die With A Smile by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga, with the rest of the five panning out as Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish, Beautiful Things by Benson Boone, Lose Control by Teddy Swims and Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan
Here, in full, therefore are those vital 2024 Top Tens:
Most-Streamed Artists Globally 2024
1) Taylor Swift
2) The Weeknd
3) Bad Bunny
4) Drake
5) Billie Eilish
6) Travis Scott
7) Peso Pluma
8) Kanye West
9) Ariana Grande
10) Feid
Most-Streamed Songs Globally 2024
1) Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter
2) Beautiful Things by Benson Boone
3) Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish
4) Gata Only by FloyyMenor and Cris Mj
5) Lose Control by Teddy Swims
6) End of Beginning by Djo
7) Too Sweet by Hozier
8) One Of The Girls by The Weeknd, JENNIE and Lily Rose Depp
9) Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift
10) Die With A Smile by Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga
Most-Streamed Albums Globally 2024
1) The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology by Taylor Swift
2) Hit Me Hard And Soft by Billie Eilish
3) Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter
4) Mañana Será Bonito by Karol G
5) Eternal Sunshine by Ariana Grande
6) 1989 (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift
7) SOS by SZA
8) Lover by Taylor Swift
9) Fireworks & Rollerblades by Benson Boone
10) Starboy by The Weeknd
Most Viral Songs Globally 2024
1) Die With A Smile by Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga
2) Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish
3) Beautiful Things by Benson Boone
4) Lose Control by Teddy Swims
5) Good Luck, Babe” by Chappell Roan
6) Too Sweet by Hozier
7) We Can't Be Friends (Wait For Your Love) by Ariana Grande
8) End of Beginning by Djo
9) Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter
10) Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar
