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Spotify Wrapped is back for 2024 and this year’s wrap-up adds some interesting new genres, graphic flourishes, and month-to-month breakdowns of your listening habits. For the eighth year in a row, Drake is listed as the most-listened-to rapper in both the United States and the world.
In some circles, it’s been said that Drake and his audio war with Kendrick Lamar put a tarnish on the Canadian superstar’s musical legacy. However, that hasn’t put a dent into Drizzy’s streaming numbers as evidenced by the latest Spotify Wrapped roundup.
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In the United States, Taylor Swift is just one slot ahead of Drake as the most-listened-to artist, which makes all the sense in the world given her massive popularity and supportive fanbase. With Swift and Drake taking spots one and two, the rest of the United States’ top 10 list includes in order Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallen, Kanye West, Future, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, and Metro Boomin.
On the domestic front, the inclusion of Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar has a tipping point in the explosive “Like That” track that ignited the war of words between Drake and K-Dot and culminated in the chart-topping “Not Like Us” that boosted the profile of the Compton, Calif. star.
On the global front, the top artist is Taylor Swift once more, with The Weeknd, a rival of The Boy, taking the second slot with Bad Bunny at #3, Drake at #4, and Billie Eilish at #5.
As it stands, Drake can once again claim superiority as the top rapper in the States and the OVO honcho may be motivated to gain ground on the global front despite having a largely quiet 2024. All eyes will be on October’s Very Own for sure in the following year.
Source: Spotify
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Photo: Getty
HipHopWired Featured Video
Spotify Wrapped is back for 2024 and this year’s wrap-up adds some interesting new genres, graphic flourishes, and month-to-month breakdowns of your listening habits. For the eighth year in a row, Drake is listed as the most-listened-to rapper in both the United States and the world.
In some circles, it’s been said that Drake and his audio war with Kendrick Lamar put a tarnish on the Canadian superstar’s musical legacy. However, that hasn’t put a dent into Drizzy’s streaming numbers as evidenced by the latest Spotify Wrapped roundup.
Related Stories
In the United States, Taylor Swift is just one slot ahead of Drake as the most-listened-to artist, which makes all the sense in the world given her massive popularity and supportive fanbase. With Swift and Drake taking spots one and two, the rest of the United States’ top 10 list includes in order Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallen, Kanye West, Future, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, and Metro Boomin.
On the domestic front, the inclusion of Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar has a tipping point in the explosive “Like That” track that ignited the war of words between Drake and K-Dot and culminated in the chart-topping “Not Like Us” that boosted the profile of the Compton, Calif. star.
On the global front, the top artist is Taylor Swift once more, with The Weeknd, a rival of The Boy, taking the second slot with Bad Bunny at #3, Drake at #4, and Billie Eilish at #5.
As it stands, Drake can once again claim superiority as the top rapper in the States and the OVO honcho may be motivated to gain ground on the global front despite having a largely quiet 2024. All eyes will be on October’s Very Own for sure in the following year.
Source: Spotify
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Photo: Getty
Chappell Roan was on countless people’s 2024 Spotify Wrapped roundups, but who was on hers?
On Wednesday (Dec. 4), the 26-year-old pop star revealed which artists were in her top five at the close of the year, sharing an old photo of herself posing next to a car decked out in camo-print decals on Instagram and writing, “this pic kind of insane.”
“Ps,” she added. “My Spotify wrapped most listened to artists were 1. Ariana [Grande] 2. Charli [XCX] 3. Heart 4. Justice 5. Kacey Musgraves.”
“Top song was barracuda ofc,” Roan added, referencing her third-most-streamed artist’s 1977 hit.
The Missouri native’s post comes on the same day Spotify unveiled its annual Wrapped feature, allowing users to see which artists and songs they streamed the most over the course of 2024 through specially curated playlists and shareable data cards. The platform also revealed its most-streamed artists overall — Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Drake and Billie Eilish, in that order — as well as its most popular songs of the year.
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Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” garnered the most listens globally on Spotify this year, followed by Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” FloyyMenor and Cris Mj’s “Gata Only” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control.” In the U.S., however, Roan scored the sixth-most streamed song with breakthrough single “Good Luck, Babe!” — which surpassed one billion streams just a few days prior to Wrapped arriving — bested only by “Espresso,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help” and Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby” nationally.
The “Hot to Go” singer’s debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, was also the fifth-most streamed album in the U.S. Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology was No. 1 at home, followed by Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet and Noah Kahan’s Stick Season.
Roan has previously expressed her fandom of Grande, calling herself an “Arianator” in an August livestream and adding that she was “so excited” to see Wicked. She also gave Charli a shout-out in her September Rolling Stone cover story, naming the “Von Dutch” artist as one of several female stars who had reached out to her with support during the emotional low-points of her rise to fame, along with Katy Perry, Lorde, Muna, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga and more.
As we look toward 2025, ’tis the season to look back at your 2024 music listening habits with Spotify Wrapped, the annual breakdown of how you’ve been individually listening to music throughout the year.
While Spotify Wrapped is available for anyone with an account, sometimes, it can be hard to find. Don’t worry, though, Billboard‘s got your back. As usual, the 2024 Spotify Wrapped will be Spotify mobile app, which you can download at Spotify.com/Wrapped. Make sure you have the latest version, which you’ll need to access Wrapped. Just like last year, the platform is making Wrapped available via desktop and mobile, also at Spotify.com/Wrapped.
Once you’ve logged in, your personalized look back at 2024 should appear at the top of your home screen. After watching and learning about your listening habits throughout the year, you’ll be able to share your Wrapped results to social media to show off to your friends.
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This year’s edition rolled out on Wednesday morning (Dec. 4) and, no surprise, Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter were among the artists who dominated on the streaming service in 2024. Swift closed out her huge year as 2024’s most-streamed artist, generating over 26.6 billion streams globally — marking two straight years of her topping the tally — with The Weeknd coming in second among artists, followed by Bad Bunny, Drake and Billie Eilish.
To celebrate Swift’s two-fer, Spotify rolled out a special Wrapped badge on her profile as well as custom animations corresponding to her music, including sparkles to match Fearless (Taylor’s Version), seagulls for 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and more. Swift also had Spotify’s top-streamed album of the year with her 15-week Billboard 200-topper The Tortured Poets Department.
Second place on the albums list was Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, followed by Carpenter’s, Short n’ Sweet, Karol G’s MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine. All five of the app’s top albums spent time at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In addition, Carpenter’s “Espresso” snagged the most listens globally in 2024, racking up more than 1.6 billion streams. Just behind was Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” FloyyMenor and Cris Mj’s “Gata Only” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control.”
This year’s Spotify Wrapped rolled out Wednesday morning (Dec. 4), revealing that Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and more dominated the streaming service in 2024.
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The “Fortnight” singer closes out a banner year as 2024’s most-streamed artist, generating more than 26.6 billion streams globally. In second place among artists was The Weeknd, followed in order by Bad Bunny, Drake and Billie Eilish.
To celebrate Swift’s achievement — which makes her Spotify’s most-streamed artist for two years in a row — the platform has implemented a special Wrapped badge on her profile as well as introduced custom animations corresponding with her music, including sparkles to match Fearless (Taylor’s Version), seagulls for 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and more.
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The 14-time Grammy winner also had Spotify’s top-streamed album of the year with 15-week Billboard 200-topper The Tortured Poets Department, which was also Apple Music’s biggest album of 2024. On Spotify, the second-place album was Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, followed respectively by the “Please Please Please” singer’s Short n’ Sweet, Karol G’s MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine. All five of the app’s top albums spent time at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — and all five of them, it’s worth celebrating, were turned in by female artists.
As for most-streamed songs, Carpenter’s “Espresso” garnered the most listens globally in 2024, racking up more than 1.6 billion streams. Behind it came Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” FloyyMenor and Cris Mj’s “Gata Only” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control.”
Plus, Spotify shared its most-streamed podcast this year — The Joe Rogan Experience — and most-listened audio book, which was Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Like in years past, Spotify Wrapped is also now allowing individual users to view their own top-listened artists and songs via shareable data cards. In 2024, they can access “Musical Evolution” features as well, showing how their distinct moods and tastes changed over that past 11 months with Spotify-generated descriptors and a personalized playlist.
Also new is a “Longest Listening Streak” feature that accompanies users’ favorite artists of the year. A returning favorite is the “Top Listeners” feature, revealing which percentage of listeners fans were in for their favorite artists — and the most loyal ones will receive special videos from stars such as Peso Pluma, ROSÉ, Billie Eilish, Usher, Sabrina Carpenter, Karol G and more.
Chappell Roan is celebrating a major milestone on Spotify.
On Friday (Nov. 29), the 26-year-old pop star shared on social media that her breakout hit “Good Luck, Babe!” has officially surpassed one billion streams on the platform.
“good luck babe hitting a billion streams on Spotify is cuckoo loco,” Roan wrote on Instagram, posting a pair of photos of herself rocking a Joan Jett T-shirt. “All I have to say is thank you.”
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Among those joining the celebration in the comments section were fellow musical artists Olivia Rodrigo, SZA and Brandi Carlile. “Yessss,” Rodrigo wrote. SZA chimed in with, “Yeeaaaa!!!! Never been more proud to contribute 500 streams.” Carlile simply remarked, “It kinda rules.”
“Good Luck, Babe!” is featured on Roan’s debut album, Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, which dropped in September 2023. The track, written in collaboration with Daniel Nigro and Justin Tranter, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned Roan her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart in September.
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Roan reflected on the journey behind “Good Luck, Babe!” in an interview with Rolling Stone. “I just wanted to write a big anthemic pop song,” she said. “The song was a b—- to write,” the singer-songwriter added, explaining that it’s “about wishing good luck to someone who’s denying fate.”
This year has been a whirlwind for Roan. She’s garnered six Grammy nominations for 2025, including best new artist. Her Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is nominated for both album of the year and best pop vocal album, while “Good Luck, Babe!” earned nods for song of the year, record of the year and best pop solo performance.
The Spotify news arrives just days after Franz Ferdinand gave their own take on “Good Luck, Babe!” during a BBC Radio 2 performance. “It’s just an amazing song by an incredible artist,” lead singer Alex Kapranos said. “Some artists have a moment, and it’s often divisive. But I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t love Chappell. This song is incredible, and we’re thrilled to play it.”
Check out Roan’s celebratory Instagram post about reaching one billion streams on Spotify here.
Universal Music Group (UMG) has responded to allegations by UMG artist Drake that it conspired with Spotify to artificially boost the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” in a blockbuster legal filing on Monday (Nov. 25). “The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue,” to […]
Drake has initiated legal action against Universal Music Group and Spotify over allegations that the two companies conspired to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
In a filing Monday (Nov. 25) in Manhattan court, Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC accused UMG of launching an illegal “scheme” involving bots, payola and other methods to pump up Lamar’s song — a track that savagely attacked Drake amid an ongoing feud between the two stars.
“UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” attorneys for Drake’s company write. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”
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Drake’s attorneys accuse UMG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the federal “RICO” statute often used in criminal cases against organized crime. They also allege deceptive business practices and false advertising under New York state law.
The court filings are a remarkable twist in the high-profile beef between the two stars, which saw Drake and Kendrick exchange stinging diss tracks over a period of months earlier this year. That such a dispute would spill into business litigation seemed almost unthinkable in the world of hip-hop.
It also represents a stunning rift between Drake and UMG, where the star has spent his entire career, first through signing a deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, which was distributed by Republic Records, and then signing directly to Republic.
Lamar, meanwhile, has also spent his entire career associated with UMG, first through the TDE imprint, which was distributed by Interscope, and more recently through his own company pgLang, which he licenses through Interscope.
In technical terms, Monday’s filing is not yet a full lawsuit, but a so-called “pre-action” petition — a procedure under New York law that aims to secure information before filing a lawsuit. Spotify declined to comment. UMG did not immediately return a request for comment.
This is a developing story, and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Miley Cyrus has six new pieces of hardware in her collection, one for each of her biggest hits. And in a new episode of Spotify‘s Billions Club: The Series, the 31-year-old pop star opened up about each of her tracks that have crossed into 10-digit territory on the streaming service, including 2009’s “Party in the U.S.A.” — which she lovingly referred to as the “ultimate grocery aisle music” — 2013’s “We Can’t Stop,” 2018’s “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” with Mark Ronson and 2020’s “Angels Like You.”
The celebration of her milestones comes as her first-ever Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, “Wrecking Ball,” becomes her sixth track to reach a billion listens.
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While discussing the pop-rock heartbreak anthem with sister Brandi Cyrus, Miley revealed the straightforward inspiration behind “Wrecking Ball”: “My man wasn’t acting right.”
Released in 2013, the song is widely believed to be about the star’s ex-husband, Liam Hemsworth — as is “Flowers,” her second-ever Hot 100 chart-topper and the fastest of her tracks to reach a billion streams. It was also Spotify’s most-streamed song of 2023 and earned Miley her first and second Grammy Awards (record of the year and best pop solo performance) earlier this year.
Of the speculation into the subject matter of “Flowers,” Miley quipped, “The only rumor I can confirm to be true is that the gold dress I am wearing is museum-quality from Yves Saint Laurent that is in an exhibition in Paris right now.”
In another clip from the shoot shared exclusively with Billboard on Thursday (Nov. 21), the Hannah Montana alum reflected on how she’s inspired younger stars such as Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo. “You never think about in the future, someone replicating what you do,” she said in the snippet. “You’re just doing it because it’s honest in the moment … It’s really important they do it their own way, because that’s what my career has represented above all else.”
Miley’s Billions Club episode makes her just the latest artist to be honored by the series, with past installments focusing on Ariana Grande, Cardi B, Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran and more.
Watch Miley’s Billions Club episode above.
Amazon Music is updating its “Unlimited” subscription tier to give subscribers in the U.S., UK and Canada access to audiobooks from Audible’s library of one million-plus titles, the company announced on Tuesday (Nov. 19).
With the new perk, Amazon Music Unlimited follows in the footsteps of Spotify, which revamped its subscription offerings earlier this year to include a bundle of songs and audiobooks together. Though Spotify angered songwriters and publishers by arguing it didn’t need to pay the full mechanical royalty rate since it offered multiple royalty-earning services in one, it appears that Amazon Music will work with publishers to determine new rates privately. According to a statement by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the trade organization is “optimistic” about Amazon’s new offering and is “engaged” with the company in a “respectful and productive way” to find a compensation model for publishers that “will not decrease revenue for songwriters.”
Subscribers to AMU’s individual plan and primary holders of family plans are entitled to one audiobook of any length per month, a perk that continues even after each billing cycle. For those whose appetite for audiobooks exceeds the one-per-month offer, additional titles can be acquired through Audible via monthly subscriptions or a la carte purchases.
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The additional perk comes without an increase in price — for the time being. Steve Boom, vp of audio, Twitch and games, said Amazon’s strategy is be “to add new things to the product” that add value and later “figure out what the right pricing strategy is in the long term.” In the U.S., AMU costs $9.99 for Prime members and $10.99 for non-Prime subscribers, both less than Spotify’s $11.99 monthly fee and, for non-Prime subscribers, equal to to Apple Music’s $10.99 price.
Spoken-word content has already proven a valuable complement to music. After AMU added podcasts in 2020, subscribers embraced having both music and spoken-word content in the same app, noted Boom. “The convenience of having both music and spoken word in the same app has proven really effective. It makes logical sense to bring audio books into it as well.”
Audiobooks will not be made available to Amazon Music Prime, the tier included with a basic Prime subscription, or Amazon Music Free, a free option with playlists, radio stations and podcasts.
The concept of “bundling” multiple services together has become a hot-button issue for songwriters and publishers. At the start of March, Spotify Premium subscriptions, including family and duo tiers, were quietly reclassified as bundled offerings, with both music and audiobooks included in the plans.
According to the stipulations of Phonorecords IV — the government-regulated guidelines that dictate the mechanical royalty rates for streaming from 2023-2027 — bundled services can qualify to pay out a lower royalty rate for publishing given that subscription dollars must be split between multiple services (in this case, books and songs). As a consequence, Billboard calculated that publishers and songwriters will earn an estimated $150 million less in U.S. mechanical royalties than previously expected in the 12 months following the change.
At the time, NMPA’s CEO/president David Israelite said he would “declare war” on Spotify — and he subsequently launched a multi-pronged effort to stop the streamer. This included sending Spotify a cease and desist for unlicensed lyrics, video and podcast content; filing a legislative proposal with both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate Judiciary Committees; and filing a Federal Trade Commission complaint. Around the same time, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (the MLC) sued Spotify for “improperly” classifying these tiers as bundles.
“We are optimistic about the new Amazon bundle,” Israelite told Billboard in a statement. “Amazon has engaged with the music publishing and songwriting industry in a respectful and productive way, unlike Spotify. We expect this new Amazon bundle will not decrease revenue for songwriters. Unlike Spotify, Amazon is looking at music creators as business partners and seeking to have a deal in place before the first round of royalty payments. This is in stark contrast to Spotify who is trying to pervert the compulsory license and slash what they pay songwriters.”
The NMPA and Amazon Music have not yet reached a final agreement.