Spotify’s Top Songs, Artists, Playlists and Podcasts of 2018

Hip-hop dominated Spotify’s charts in 2018

Spotify’s Top Songs, Artists, Playlists and Podcasts of 2018
Spotify’s Top Songs, Artists, Playlists and Podcasts of 2018

Spotify’s Top Songs, Artists, Playlists and Podcasts of 2018 are published in a blog posting by the streamer and once again Hip-hop dominated its charts. Music lovers continued with some existing favourites, such as 2015 and 2016’s most-streamed artist, Drake, who took home the crown once again this year. With 8.2 billion streams in 2018 alone, the Canadian rapper is now Spotify’s most-streamed artist of all time. His album “Scorpion” and song “God’s Plan” took the top slots in their categories – with “God’s Plan” bringing in more than 1 billion streams.

Ariana Grande’s 48 million plus monthly listeners raised her to the position of Spotify’s most-streamed female artist, following in the footsteps of three-time winner Rihanna. She dropped major hits throughout the year, including her fourth album, “Sweetener” and her latest single “thank u, next” (over 220 million streams).

Hip-hop dominated Spotify’s charts in 2018, but Latin music continued its rapid growth. This year, three Latin artists—J Balvin, Ozuna and Bad Bunny—landed on the top-10 most-streamed artists list, while last year, Daddy Yankee was the only Spanish-speaking artist to reach the top 10. Dominican-American singer Cardi B, the third-most-streamed female artist of 2018, and Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello, the fifth-most-streamed, are also representing their Latin heritage through music. The genre is making its mark in playlists, with both ¡Viva Latino! and Baila Reggaeton finishing the year as Spotify’s third-and fourth-most-followed playlists.

Spotify added more podcasts to its growing selection, bringing the total episodes available to almost 7 million. Listeners have enjoyed top podcasts like “The Joe Budden Podcast,” as well as “Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith” and Spotify’s “Dissect,” which offers a deep-dive analysis of popular music albums. The most popular topics are crime-and-mystery podcasts, such as “My Favourite Murder,” “Crime Junkie,” and “Crimetown.”

Spotify - What the world listened to in 2018 infographic
Spotify – What the world listened to in 2018 infographic

Most-Streamed Artists

Drake is the world’s most-streamed artist, with more than 8.2 billion streams this year. J Balvin, who made his top-five debut, had multiple hits on our global chart, such as “X” (with Nicky Jam) and “I Like It” (with Cardi B).

Drake

Post Malone

XXXTENTACION

J Balvin

Ed Sheeran*

*Ed Sheeran was the top-streamed artist in 2017

Most-Streamed Female Artists

Spotify’s top-streamed female artist, Ariana Grande, released her hotly-anticipated fourth album, “Sweetener,” in August. She had a momentous year with numerous charting singles, including her latest smash “thank u, next.” Grande’s music streamed more than 3 billion times in 2018.

Ariana Grande

Dua Lipa

Cardi B

Taylor Swift

Camila Cabello

Most-Streamed Tracks

While it was the summer of “In My Feelings,” Drake’s track “God’s Plan” was actually the most-streamed song of 2018. Post Malone also scored two songs on this list with both “rockstar (feat. 21 Savage)” and “Psycho (feat. Ty Dolla $ign).”

God’s Plan – Drake

SAD! – XXXTENTACION

rockstar (feat. 21 Savage) – Post Malone

Psycho (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) – Post Malone

In My Feelings – Drake

Most-Streamed Artist Albums

Drake’s “Scorpion” was released on June 29, and before long was racking up 10 million streams an hour. Dua Lipa’s self-titled debut album also had a stellar year, and Ed Sheeran’s 2017 album “÷” made the top five as well.

Scorpion – Drake

beerbongs & bentleys – Post Malone

? – XXXTENTACION

Dua Lipa – Dua Lipa

÷ – Ed Sheeran*

*Ed Sheeran’s ÷ was the top album in 2017

Most-Streamed Groups

Imagine Dragons is Spotify’s most-streamed group for 2018, but K-pop sensation BTS also enjoyed plenty of global listening. Maroon 5 and Migos come in third and fourth, and Coldplay took fifth.

Imagine Dragons

BTS

Maroon 5

Migos

Coldplay*

* Coldplay was 2017’s most-streamed group

Most-Followed Playlists

Today’s Top Hits is 2018’s most popular playlist with 22 million followers. Rounding out the top five is Songs to Sing in the Car, with Beyoncé’s “Halo,” and Camila Cabello’s “Havana” as the top two songs people are belting on their road trips.

Today’s Top Hits

RapCaviar

¡Viva Latino!

Baila Reggaeton

Songs to Sing in the Car

Most-Streamed Exclusive Spotify Podcasts

Fest & Flauschig

The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory & Mal

Dissect

Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith

TALK-O-MAT

Most-Streamed Podcast Genres

Crime and Mystery

Comedy

News & Politics

Health

Arts

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