The Top Spotify Usage & Revenue Statistics For 2024
Spotify is one of the web’s top music streaming apps and a top competitor for Apple Music and Amazon Music.
In this post, we’re listing the top Spotify statistics based on their users’ usage of the app, the company’s revenue and the content on the app.
We also share a few tips on how to look up your own personal Spotify stats at the end of this post.
Let’s start off with some of the more important Spotify user and revenue statistics.
Spotify statistics – editor’s picks
- Spotify earned $3.1B in profit in 2022. (Spotify’s Quarterly Reports)
- Spotify has spent more than $36B on royalties since 2008. (Spotify’s 2022 Q4 Financial Statement)
- Spotify’s acquired Findaway in 2017 and has expanded the audiobook division by adding more than 300,000 titles to its library. (Spotify’s Audiobook Homepage)
- The average Artist makes between $0.0033 to $0.0054 per stream. (Insider)
- Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist globally in 2022. (Spotify Newsroom)
General usage & revenue Spotify stats
1. Spotify earned $12.6B in revenue in 2022
As a Swedish company, Spotify’s quarterly statements for shareholders report a total revenue of €11.7B in 2022.
This converts into 12.6 billion USD in early 2023, and a 21% increase from 2021.
87% of that revenue came from premium subscriptions alone.
Source: Spotify’s Quarterly Reports
2. Spotify earned $3.1B in profit in 2022
Spotify’s total profit for 2022 amounted to €2.9B with Q4 being the most profitable quarter for the app.
While the company’s revenue for the year was €11.7B, their cost of revenue was €8.8B.
This converts to a cost of around $9.4B.
Source: Spotify’s Quarterly Reports
3. Spotify spent $3.9B on operating costs in 2022
Spotify spent €3.6B on operating costs in 2022.
In total, they spent €1.4B on research and development, €1.6B on sales and marketing, and €626M on general and administrative costs.
Source: Spotify’s Quarterly Reports
4. Spotify’s gross profit from ad-supported plans decreased by $93M in 2022
While Spotify’s profit amounted to €2.9B in 2022, the company’s gross profit from ad-supported plans decreased by €87M in 2022.
Their gross profit from ad-supported plans was €6M in 2020 and grew to €117M in 2021. However, that number dropped to €30M in 2022, or an 8% drop in profit margins.
Spotify names a number of different reasons for this dramatic loss in profit from the ad-supported side of their business:
- Increase in costs from content, streaming delivery and advertising measurement.
- Increase in rates for advertising, streaming and publishing licensing.
- Additional costs as a result of delivering better product features.
As such, most of the company’s profit came from premium subscriptions, the gross profit of which increased by €422M.
Source: Spotify’s 2022 Financial Report
5. Spotify has spent more than $36B on royalties since it launched
In Q4 of Spotify’s financial statements for 2022, the company stated they’ve paid over €34B in revenue since they launched in 2008.
A direct quote from the statement reads,
“In 2022, our expenses for rights holders grew by 21% compared to the prior year, making us one of the largest engines for revenue growth to artists and labels in the music industry.”
Source: Spotify’s 2022 Q4 Financial Statement
6. Spotify has a market share of 30.5%
Spotify has the largest market share of any music streaming service around the world.
According to data from Statista, Spotify had a market share of 30.5% in Q2 of 2022.
That’s more than some of the app’s biggest competitors Apple Music, Tencent Music and Amazon Music, who had market shares of 13.7%, 13.4% and 13.3% respectively.
It’s safe to say that for artists, it’s well worth building a following on Spotify.
Source: Statista
7. Spotify has been downloaded over 1 billion times on Android devices
Spotify’s page in the Google Play store says the app has been downloaded from Google Play, which works with Android and Chrome OS devices, over 1 billion times.
It’s the number one app in music in both the Google Play store as well as the App Store, available for iOS devices.
It has a 4.7 rating on Google Play from over 74,000 reviews and a 4.8 rating on the App Store from over 25 million reviews.
It’s one of the top 10 free apps on Google Play and one of the top 25 free apps on the App Store.
Source: Google Play
8. Spotify’s user based streamed 132 billion hours of content in 2022
Spotify’s combined audience of premium and ad-supported users streamed 132 billion hours of content in 2022 alone.
This was a 20% increase over 2021’s total.
Source: Spotify’s 2022 Financial Report
9. Spotify is available in 184 countries and territories around the world
Spotify is available to use in 184 out of the 195 countries and territories that exist around the world.
Source: Spotify’s 2022 Financial Report
10. Spotify had an average of 450 million active monthly users in 2022
According to Spotify’s quarterly reports for shareholders, the app had at least 400 million active monthly users per quarter in 2022.
This is compared to an average of 377 million active monthly users in 2021.
We can even break this stat down further.
In 2022, Spotify had an average of 192.5 million active premium users per month and 269 million ad-supported users per month.
Source: Spotify’s Quarterly Reports
11. 31.5% of Spotify’s monthly active users live in Europe
Europe was Spotify’s strongest market in 2022 by far.
North America, Latin America and the rest of the world use Spotify almost equally. They account for 22%, 21.5% and 25.25% of the app’s monthly active users respectively.
Source: Spotify’s Quarterly Reports
12. 39% of Spotify’s premium subscribers live in Europe
Europe is also the app’s strongest market as far as premium subscriptions go.
North American, Latin American and rest of the world subscriptions accounted for 28.5%, 21% and 11.75% of premium subscriptions respectively.
Source: Spotify’s Quarterly Reports
13. 55% of Spotify’s user base are between the ages of 18 and 34
Millennials and Gen Z make up the majority of Spotify’s user base, according to data from Statista.
19% of Spotify users are over the age of 55, 16% are 35-44, and 11% are 45-54.
Source: Statista
14. Spotify artists make between $0.0033 and $0.0054 per stream
According to talks Insider had with artists, the average artist makes $0.0033 per stream.
Other reports claim artists make up to $0.0054 per stream.
At $0.0033 per stream, artists need over 304 streams in order to make $1. At $0.0054 per stream, they need 186.
The average payout of $0.0033 per stream is quite low when compared to the average payout of $0.00521 per stream Spotify paid in 2014.
This means artists are making less, even as Spotify’s revenue and user base grows.
However, it’s important to note that although this is how much artists make per stream, this isn’t how Spotify pays artists that stream music on their platform.
According to the Royalties section of Spotify’s documentation for artists, Spotify doesn’t pay artists directly at all.
They pay rights holders at a negotiated streamshare instead, typically once a month. Those rights holders, which are usually record labels and distributors, pay artists at an agreed-upon amount Spotify has no knowledge of.
Streamshare comes from Spotify’s net revenue of ads and premium subscriptions, but it’s calculated after the company removes key operating costs from their net revenue.
This likely contributes to the lower amount of royalties artists see from Spotify streams.
Source: Insider
15. Spotify lost over 5 million users in Russia
Spotify was one of hundreds of companies to suspend operations in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
This amounted to a loss of 1.5 million users in Q1, an additional 600,000 in Q2, and the rest from quarters 3 and 4.
Spotify calls these “disconnects.”
2 million of Russia’s 5 million Spotify users were premium subscribers.
Source: Spotify’s Quarterly Reports
16. Spotify increased the fair value of their stake in Tencent Music Entertainment Group to $1.17B in 2022
Spotify and Chinese entertainment corporation Tencent agreed to trade stakes in each other back in 2017.
The fair value of their holdings in TME increased by €242 million, bringing the total to €1.094B.
Source: Spotify’s 2022 Financial Report
Music statistics
17. There are more than 100 million tracks on Spotify
Spotify’s global music library includes over 100 million tracks with more and more added every day.
This helps the streaming app keep up with competitors like Apple Music and Amazon Music.
Source: Spotify’s Investor Homepage
18. Content from major music corporations accounted for 75% of streams on Spotify in 2022
In their 2022 financial report, Spotify told investors that the majority of music streamed on their platform comes from music licensed by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and Music and Entertainment Rights Licensing Independent Network.
This short list consists of 75% of content streamed on Spotify in 2022, including four out of five of the platform’s most-streamed artists globally.
These corporations are so influential to Spotify’s bottom line, they have the power to “adversely” affect the company’s revenue by revoking licenses or demanding higher payouts.
Source: Spotify’s 2022 Financial Report
19. Bad Bunny received over 18.5 billion streams in 2022
Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist globally in 2022 (and 2021 and 2020). His music alone generated over 18.5 billion streams for Spotify.
Among his most popular tracks are “LA CANCIÓN” at over 1.2 billion streams, “Me Porto Bonito” at over 1.1 billion streams and “Tità Me Preguntó” at over 1 billion streams.
The rapper and singer beat Taylor Swift for the number one spot.
Drake, The Weeknd and BTS complete the list in the third, fourth and fifth-place spots.
Four of these top Spotify artists (minus Drake) were also the most viral artists in 2022, meaning their music was shared to social media platforms from Spotify: Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, BTS and Lana Del Rey.
Source: Spotify Newsroom
20. “As It Was” by Harry Styles was streamed 1.5 billion times in 2022
According to stats from Spotify Wrapped 2022, “As It Was,” released by Harry Styles on April 1, was the most-streamed song of 2022.
It was the lead single for the artist’s upcoming album Harry’s House, which released the following month on May 20.
Other songs to make the list were “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals, “STAY (with Justin Bieber)” by The Kid LAROI, “Me Porto Benito” by Bad Bunny featuring Chencho Corleone and “Tità Me Preguntó” by Bad Bunny.
Source: Guiness World Records
21. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti Album was streamed 183 million times in one day
According to Spotify’s stats for Spotify Wrapped 2022, Bad Bunny’s album Un Verano Sin Ti was the most-streamed album globally in 2022.
It was streamed 183 million times when it was released on May 6, and many sources state it was streamed over 10 billion times by the end of 2022.
Other most-streamed albums in 2022 were Harry’s House by Harry Styles, SOUR by Olivia Rodrigo, = by Ed Sheeran and Planet Her by Doja Cat.
Source: Billboard
22. Streams for “Running Up That Hill” increased by more than 8,700% globally
“Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” by Kate Bush was originally released as the lead single for Kate’s 1985 album Hounds of Love.
An English artist, Kate’s song reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart and #30 on the Billboard Hot 100.
That was in 1985. When renewed interest hit the song in 2022, it topped the charts in the UK for three weeks, Ireland for seven and Australia for nine.
It also hit a new record on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at #3.
On Spotify, the song’s reemergence into the charts resulted in an uptick of streams by more than 8,700%.
That renewed interest came from Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things, which released its fourth season in mid-2022.
The song was used in a key moment during the season’s fourth episode, at which point it became a major plot device throughout the rest of the season.
The song also went viral on TikTok, which sealed its reemergence into the charts by introducing the track to a wider (and younger) audience who hadn’t watched the show.
Source: Spotify Wrapped 2022
23. Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits Playlist has over 33 million likes
Today’s Top Hits is Spotify’s most popular playlist date to date.
Spotify has hundreds of playlists curated by the Spotify team themselves, but Today’s Top Hits is definitely the most influential.
This is because it’s a list of the Top 50 tracks dominating the music industry at the moment.
It’s essentially Spotify’s own version of the Billboard Hot 100.
According to a Spotify Newsroom2 article, some of the most-streamed artists from this playlist include Khalid, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber and Camila Cabello.
Source: Spotify App
Podcast statistics
24. Spotify has over 32.5 million monthly podcast listeners in the United States
Spotify reached over 32.5 million monthly podcast listeners in the United States alone in 2022.
This is more than one of the industry’s leading platforms for podcasts, Apple Podcasts, which only had 28.5 million monthly listeners.
Source: Statista3
25. Spotify Acquired 4 New Businesses in 2022
Spotify acquired Podsights, Sonatic, Chartable, and Heardle in 2022. Most notable are Podsights and Chartable.
Podsights is an advertising platform for podcasts while Chartable is an analytics tool for the industry.
Spotify will likely use these acquisitions to expand their influence in the podcasting industry.
Source: Spotify’s 2022 Q4 Investment Report
26. There are over 5 million podcasts on Spotify
According to Spotify’s quarterly reports, the app had 3.6 million podcasts on the platform by the end of Q4 of 2021.
That number increased to over 5 million in Q4.
Source: Spotify’s Investor Homepage
27. The Joe Rogan Experience is the #1 podcast on Spotify for the third year in a row
Spotify signed a multi-year contract with Joe Rogan in 2020 that included exclusive streaming rights and a $200 million deal, according to sources cited by The New York Times.
That contract has proven to pay off as The Joe Rogan Experience continues to be the most popular podcast globally on the platform for the third year in a row.
This is in spite of controversies surrounding Joe Rogan himself as well as accusations that his show spreads misinformation.
Nonetheless, having exclusive streaming rights to one of the web’s most popular podcasts has proven to be a profitable venture for Spotify.
Other most popular podcasts globally were Call Her Daddy, Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain, Caso 63 (All Languages) and Crime Junkie.
Source: Spotify Wrapped 2022
Audiobook statistics
28. There are over 300,000 audiobooks on Spotify
Spotify purchased Findaway in June of 2022 for €117 million. Findaway is a digital audiobook distribution platform.
Spotify’s acquisition of this platform has allowed it to expand the audiobook division of its service by adding more than 300,000 titles to its library.
Audiobooks are not associated with Spotify’s premium subscriptions, so you won’t have access to them just by having a premium account nor do you need a premium account to listen to them.
They’re available as one-time purchases instead.
Spotify will likely need to change this pricing model in the future in order to compete with Audible, the industry’s leading audiobook platform, as the subscription service offers unlimited streaming of thousands of audiobooks per month.
Source: Spotify’s Audiobooks Homepage
Sources
Final thoughts
One thing is clear from these statistics: Spotify continues to dominate the audio industry as a top competitor for music, podcasts and now audiobooks.
They have the largest market share of any streaming service around the world, and their user base and revenue continue to grow every quarter, especially from premium subscriptions that don’t rely on third-party advertisements.
And despite how little artists claim to make through streaming versus album sales, the stats in this post prove how much of a powerhouse the app has become in the music industry itself.
Those stats have become just as important as the Billboard Hot 100 list as a way to determine the popularity of new artists and tracks.
Not to mention Spotify has their own version of the Billboard Hot 100 in the form of their Today’s Top Hits playlist.
The company’s user base and revenue continue to grow each year, so a lot of these numbers will likely change as new updates are released.
How to view your own Spotify data
Be sure to use the Spotify app in December when the company launches their annual release of Spotify Wrapped.
Spotify Wrapped is a curated slideshow generated from your personal user data.
It includes things like the number of minutes you’ve spent listening to Spotify in the last year as well as your top artists, top songs and other listening habits in regards to your music taste in the last year.
Spotify also generates a playlist of your top 100 tracks from the year. While you can only view the slideshow for a limited amount of time, you can add this playlist to your library and listen to it forever.
If you want to go beyond Spotify Wrapped, including digging deep into your Spotify genre stats, favorite artists and Spotify listening habits, consider using a third-party tool that enables you to view your own personal Spotify analytics.
Here’s how to view your own Spotify statistics:
- volt.fm
- Top songs, artists, genres and albums.
- Most and least popular moods.
- View data by how popular or obscure your music tastes are, how old they are, and how long they are.
- Data available in 4-week, 6-month and all-time intervals.
- Share your lists.
- Save most played songs as a playlist.
- Stats for Spotify
- Top tracks, artists and genres.
- Recently streamed songs.
- Data available in 4-week, 6-month and all-time intervals.
- Create playlists from each list.
- stats.fm
- Top tracks, genres and artists.
- List of your most recently streamed songs.
- Data available in 4-week, 6-month and all-time intervals.
These tools are free and only require you to log in with your Spotify account.
For additional reading:
