YEAR-END: TAY WRAPS IT UP AT SPOTIFY

Taylor Swift received more than 26.1b streams on Spotify worldwide this year, which makes her the streaming service’s top global artist of 2023. Bad Bunny was right behind her.

Miley Cyrus’ record-breaking “Flowers” (Columbia) was the top song globally with more than 1.6b streams, topping SZA’s “Kill Bill” and Harry Styles’ “As It Was.” That Top 3 must have Sony Music beaming with pride.

The top global album list has Bad Bunny and Swift swapping spots: Un Verano Sin Ti (Rimas) is #1 with 4.5b streams; Swift’s Midnights (Republic) is #2.

Swift was also the most-streamed artist in the U.S., followed by Drake, Morgan Wallen, The Weeknd and Bad Bunny.

In other U.S. news, Wallen had the most-streamed album, One Thing at a Time (Big Loud/Mercury/Republic), and the most-streamed song, “Last Night.” His Dangerous: The Double Album—released in January 2021—was #5. Wallen and Swift were the only artists with two songs apiece in the U.S. Top 10: His "You Proof" was #8, while she landed at #6 with "Cruel Summer" and #10 with "Anti-Hero." Swift had three albums in the Top 10: Midnights (#3), Lover (#6) and folklore (#8).

The streamer offered a few other global observations about 2023 as well. Eurovision had an immediate impact for Loreen’s winning “Tattoo” and runner-up Kaarija's “Cha Cha Cha”; Colombia became the fifth-largest consumer of Mexican music, which rose 85% there over 2022; instrumental Indian classical music grew 500% on Spotify in India; and Mandopop (that'd be Mandarin pop, as distinguished from Cantopop), led by Jay Chou and JJ Lin, received more than 500m monthly streams globally.

Afrobeats is one of the fastest-growing genres on Spotify, expanding by 550% since 2017, with new audiences emerging in Mexico and India. In 2023, Rema’s “Calm Down” became the first Afrobeats-artist-led track to hit a billion streams on Spotify.

And that ain't all, folks—Spotify for Artists’ seventh annual Artist Wrapped campaign is now underway. Artists can check out their Wrapped experience and share cards, both available in 36 languages. The second edition of Songwriter Wrapped is also live. Wrapped Listening Parties are being introduced this year; artists will be able to speak directly to their fans and thank them for their support, stream their favorite tracks of the year, answer fan questions and sell merch. Among the participants are Ava Max, JVKE, Chelsea Cutler and Lauren Daigle.

While you’re wondering how your eighth-grade favorite became your most-listened-to artist in 2023, here are the Spotify stats.