The most streamed artists this year on Spotify

If you’ve been on Instagram lately, you’ll probably have seen the floods of Spotify Wrapped pictures people have been sharing - detailing their most streamed artists and songs of the year. The music streaming platform also shared their own data on who the most streamed artists in the world are, as well as who’s top of the charts in the UK this 2022 - and you might be surprised.

Taylor Swift was the most streamed artist in the UK according to Spotify, as well as the second most streamed artist in the entire world following the success of her recent album Midnights and newly re-recorded versions of her back catalogue. 

As for who secured the number one global spot? The Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, the musician behind global Latin hits such as Me Porto Bonito and Efecto.  

Drake took third place, followed by The Weeknd and finally Korean boyband BTS, whose music has captured audiences globally beyond their home country. 

While he didn’t place in the top five most streamed artists, Harry Styles’ song As It Was clinched the top spot for most streamed song globally. Other interesting tidbits include the fact that Kate Bush’s hit Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) saw a spike of 8700% in streams this year, thanks to its dramatic inclusion in the latest series of Stranger Things. It also added that many of its listeners were leaning in heavily to nostalgia, with a noted trend for nostalgic tunes released over 20 years ago including Kate Bush’s aforementioned track, Yellow by Coldplay, The Real Slim Shady by Eminem and more.

For any podcast lovers out there, the streaming service also released its own data on its most listened to podcasts. Controversial figure Joe Rogan was top of the list with his show The Joe Rogan Experience, followed by Call Her Daddy, Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain, Case 63 and Crime Junkie.

To see the full list of global rankings, head to Spotify’s page here.