The end of November marks Spotify Wrapped season, the time of year when pretty much everyone is posting on social media about the artists and songs they listened to most this year.
Wrapped has quickly become a beloved tradition among music lovers since since its launch in 2014. Not only does the year-end review give you a glimpse at your friends’ music tastes (and guilty pleasures … looking at you, Glee cast), but it can also turn you on to new artists and genres you may never have found without seeing them listed on your sister’s friend’s cousin’s boyfriend’s Instagram Story.
But looking at (and maybe even secretly judging) people’s year-end Spotify configurations also gives you an idea of which artists were most popular that year, cropping up again and again in listeners’ top fives. Very few musicians earn millions, let alone billions, of streams per year on the platform — and only one of them gets to reign supreme come the end of each November.
In 2023, that prize goes to none other than Ms. Taylor Swift. The names before her may be ones you expect — Billboard Hot 100 chart-rulers such as Drake, Bad Bunny, Ed Sheeran and more — but did you know that only three artists have been Spotify’s top global artist more than once? And only one person has ever done it three years in a row?
The advent of streaming has made music more accessible to people around the world than was ever imaginable even a decade ago. Keep reading to see Spotify Wrapped’s most streamed global artists through the years, along with each of their year-end total stream counts, below:
