Spotify User Statistics That Will Be Music to Your Ears

The music industry experienced an unprecedented level of growth between 1974 and 1999 selling billions of records worldwide. But in the decade that followed, the digital revolution transformed the way we consume music, and massive CD collections were simply replaced by streaming services. The new dynamics led to the demise of some record labels, changed the way others monetize music and brought new players to the scene. Enter Spotify.

This Swedish music streaming service was launched in 2008. Its growing popularity and that of its counterparts, Apple Music (2015), Pandora (2005) and Deezer (2007), led to irreversible changes in the music market. Spotify user statistics underscore the company’s success story. Naturally, this story isn’t without pitfalls. Spotify had its share of financial troubles and a turbulent relationship with some of the artists who accuse the company of underpaying musicians. Nevertheless, the service remains massively popular, and the Spotify user stats prove it.

Spotify Market Statistics

1. Spotify has a 36% share of the global music streaming market.

(Statista)

While Spotify faces competition in certain regional markets, it seems to be doing great in the overall global market. According to Statista’s Spotify yearly stats, 36% of global music streaming subscribers have a subscription with Spotify. This is almost double the number subscribed to Apple Music and several times more than other competitors such as Amazon, Tencent or Deezer.

2. Spotify generated $1.92 billion in revenue in the last presented quarter.

(Statista)

Spotify’s quarterly financial reports show that the company’s revenue is on the rise and that it will be one of the leading apps in revenue. According to Spotify stats presented by Statista, the company generated $1.92 billion in Q3 2019, an increase from $1.85 billion earned in Q2.

3. Spotify has 113 million premium subscribers.

(Statista)

Spotify’s business model relies on offering two separate options to listeners, free and Premium. Premium is a paid monthly subscription option that offers unlimited song skipping, listening without ads, HQ audio, listening to any track and listening offline.

According to Statista’s Spotify listener data, the streaming service has 113 million premium subscribers, up from 87 million during the same quarter the year before. The company is enjoying a steady increase in its subscriber base, which was made up of 52 million paid subscribers just three years ago.

4. Spotify has 248 million monthly active users.

(Spotify)

Aside from the rising number of paid subscribers, Spotify is also witnessing a spike in the overall number of active users. A look into how many people use Spotify reveals that the service had 248 million monthly active users in Q3 2019. This represents a 30% year-over-year increase. So, what percentage of Spotify users are premium? According to available data, around 45%.

5. In North America, Spotify has 32.4 million premium subscribers, marking a 26% year-over-year increase.

(The Motley Fool)

Spotify user statistics for the USA also show an evident increase in Spotify premium subscribers. Stats on Spotify users by country, reveal that there were 32.4 million North American premium subscribers in Q2 2019, marking a 26% YoY increase.

6. Apple Music surpassed Spotify in the number of paid US subscribers.

(CNBC)

In their race for streaming music dominance, Apple Music overtook Spotify in terms of paid US subscribers in mid-2019. Spotify account statistics from the moment this change in leadership occurred show that Apple Music had 28 million paid subscribers compared to Spotify’s 26 million.

This shift was the result of a marketing campaign offering existing iPhone users free trials for Apple’s monthly subscription services.

7. Streaming music services now account for 80% of US music revenues.

(Variety)

The rising number of global streaming music subscribers and the growing popularity of the service have also translated into higher revenues. According to music streaming statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America, streaming music services account for 80% of all US music revenues. In 2010, a mere 7% of US music revenues came from streaming services.

8. Spotify turns a profit for a third time in its history.

(The Verge)

Despite its size and popularity, Spotify has struggled to become profitable mainly because of large licensing payments that the company makes to record labels. Moreover, Spotify has been reluctant to make its listeners pay more out of fear of losing existing subscribers to competitors like Apple Music.

But by cutting costs and introducing cheaper plans, Spotify celebrated yet another profitable period in Q3 2019, reporting a $60 million operating profit. Out of the three times Spotify turned profitable, one instance was the result of the tax windfall in 2018 and not due to actions taken by the company itself.

9. Around 27% of Spotify listeners signed up for a free trial. Out of those, 81% became paid users.

(The Motley Fool)

Consumer Intelligence Research Partners conducted a survey on the effectiveness and reach of Spotify’s business plans and offers. According to Spotify user data from 2019, 27% of listeners signed up for a free trial in Q1 2019. These Spotify statistics from 2019 underscore the popularity of the company’s free trial offer.

Spotify Usage Stats

10. 44% of Spotify monthly active users use the service daily.

(Goodwater Capital)

Spotify can be very proud of the usage rates among its consumer base. According to Goodwater capital, 44% of Spotify’s monthly active users use it daily. That’s over 104 million active daily users.

11. Millennials make up 55% of Spotify’s user base.

(Statista)

According to Spotify user statistics, millenials are the dominant age group when it comes to the user base of the streaming service. Around 29% of the number of Spotify users are aged 25 to 34, and 26% of them belong to the 18-24 age group.

12. Only 36% of Americans aged 18-29 do not have Spotify.

(Statista)

Most newer, internet-based services are more popular with younger generations, and Spotify is no different. As the age of the consumer increases, Spotify usage decreases. A look at usage of Spotify in numbers reveals that only 5% of Americans aged 65 and above have a Spotify account.

13. Spotify reached only 2% of those in the 65+ age group.

(Statista)

As is evident from our previous stats, Spotify is especially popular among younger generations. This is partly due to its significant reach among younger Americans. According to Statista’s Spotify demographics from 2018, the streaming service had a 47% reach among respondents from the 16-19 age group.

14. With 37 million monthly active users, Europe is the continent with the highest number of Spotify customers.

(Statista)

According to Spotify 2018 stats coming from Statista, Europe had the highest number of Spotify users that year. North America and Latin America were also lucrative markets for Spotify.

15. Compared to its competition, Spotify’s user base is the youngest.

(Verto Analytics)

Statistics show that Spotify’s users are, on average, younger than those of its competitors. According to data provided by Verto Analytics, over half of the total number of Spotify subscribers are 34 years old or younger. That age demographic makes up 40% of Apple’s users and 39% of Pandora’s.

16. Spotify is a favorite among men who make up 56% of its listeners.

(Verto Analytics)

User gender statistics show that the Spotify user base is more male-dominated than other music streaming services. According to Verto Analytic’s data, 56% of the Spotify user base are men. Meanwhile, Apple Music has the opposite male to female ratio with 56% of its users being women and 44% male.

17. Around 52% of Spotify listening time comes from smartphones and tablets.

(TechCrunch)

Spotify is used by a vast number of people on the move. Although Spotify has a PC desktop app, most of the usage is recorded on portable devices. As TechCrunch’s Spotify user statistics show, 42% of the listening is done on phones and 10% on tablets.

The desktop software is responsible for 45% of listening time, while the Spotify in-browser web player accounts for 3% of listening time.

18. On average, Spotify’s active users listen to 25 hours of content monthly.

(Goodwater Capital)

Spotify user statistics compiled by the most recently available data show that Spotify’s active users spent more than 24 hours each month streaming content from the platform.

19. The average number of artists that each listener streams per week is around 41.

(Music Ally)

According to Spotify user stats, the average number of artists that users listen to each week is growing. Between 2014 and 2017 that number grew by 37%.

20. Among US users, the average amount of hours spent listening to music on Spotify is 32.1.

(Goodwater Capital)

Data compiled by Goodwater Capital Spotify contributed to Spotify listening stats on US consumers. The findings reveal that Amercians spent an average of 32.1 hours listening to music on Spotify in 2017. This is a significant increase from 23.5 hours, which was the average in 2015.

Furthermore, those that are subscribed to music streaming services seem to spend more hours listening to music weekly than average music listeners. According to user statistics for Spotify, streaming subscribers listened to 38.1 hours of music per week compared to 35.7 hours among average music listeners. Additionally, users who are subscribed to music streaming services also used a wide variety of devices.

21. A third of Spotify’s listening time is spent in Spotify-curated playlists.

(Goodwater Capital)

One of the more alluring features of Spotify is its ability to offer curated playlists to its users. These playlists can include the newest hits, top picks from a particular genre or be thematically linked. Through these playlists, users can easily navigate the sprawling song library and discover new songs.

Looking at Spotify playlist stats provided by Goodwater Capital, 31% of all listening time on Spotify is spent in playlists curated by the platform. A bit over half of that time is spent in personalized playlists which Spotify generates based on the listening history of its users.

Spotify Song and Artist Statistics

22. Spotify currently has more than 50 million songs in its library.

(Spotify)

Music libraries can make or break a music streaming service. By offering the largest possible music library, streaming services are guaranteed a high number of customers.

While we don’t know exactly how many artists are on Spotify, the platform currently has over 50 million songs in its database. When Spotify’s number of songs stood at 40 million, Apple Music had 50 million tracks. There is no recent information available about the number of tracks on Apple Music and whether it’s still ahead of Spotify. Meanwhile, Pandora currently has 30 million songs.

23. Over 1.2 million artists on Spotify received more than 100 hours of listening time.

(Spotify)

A significant number of artists on Spotify seem to enjoy a great deal of appreciation from users. Looking at Spotify’s streaming numbers published by the company in 2019, over 1.2 million artists received more than 100 hours of listening time. However, this did not translate into higher earnings for the artists since Spotify is notorious for paying very little in royalties.

24. In 2019, Spotify paid between $0.00331 and $0.00437 per stream to artists.

(Digital Music News)

Countless artists have gone public with their displeasure over the amount of money they made from Spotify. Spotify revenue statistics show that in 2019 Spotify royalties amounted to anywhere between $0.00331 and $0.00437 per stream. This means that most artists aren’t earning much from the world’s biggest subscription service. A total of 1 million streams, which is an achievement in itself, makes artists between $3310 and $4370. As such, an artist would require 336,842 to meet the monthly minimum wage amount in the US.

Apple Music pays more than Spotify - $0.00783 per stream. The highest-paying streaming service is Napster with $0.01682 per stream.

25. The most-streamed artist on Spotify in 2019 was Post Malone with 6.5 billion streams.

(Spotify)

Spotify’s end-of-the-year statistics named Post Malone as the most-streamed artist of 2019. According to Spotify statistics, this American rapper garnered 6.5 billion streams throughout the course of last year. Post Malone is followed by Billie Eilish, which has more than 6 billion streams.

26. Arianna Grande is the most-streamed female artist of the decade on Spotify while Drake was the most popular male musician.

(Spotify)

Spotify also published data on the most-streamed artists of the entire decade. Among female artists, Ariana Grande was the singer that Spotify users listened to the most. Drake was king among male singers with the highest number of streams over the last 10 years. However, the company did not divulge the exact number of streams for either of the two.

27. “Señorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabello was the most streamed song on Spotify in 2019 with over 1 billion streams.

(Spotify)

The most-streamed Spotify song does not come from the most popular artists mentioned above. The most played song on Spotify in 2019 is “Senorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabello, with over 1 billion streams throughout the year.

28. 4 million songs on Spotify have never been played.

(Forgotify)

Although there is no shortage of artists that garnered 100 hours of listening time, there is a significant number of songs that never got any play time. Forgotify is a website that directs users to songs on Spotify that have never been listened to before. At the time when the site launched in 2017, there were 4 million songs with 0 streams.

29. During the solar eclipse of 2017, Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was the most listened-to song.

(Business of Apps)

Thanks to Spotify’s curated playlists, some songs get immensely more popular during certain occasions. Even without looking at the stats, we all know that “All I want for Christmas is you” gets a lot more action during the annual holiday season.

Spotify personal user statistics from the time of the solar eclipse in August 2017 show that the song rocking the charts at that moment was “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler. The listenership peaked following the “path of totality” - the moment when the moon completely blocks the sun.