Spotify’s Gen Z users streamed 560 Bn songs in first half of 2023 according to Spotify’s annual Gen Z trend report – Culture Next Volume 05. The report based on an international survey of Gen Z (15-24) Spotify users as well as their Millennial (25-40) counterparts in June 2023.
In the first half of 2023, Gen Z listened to over 560 Bn songs and more than 3 Bn podcast episodes — a 76% increase over the year prior, making them Spotify’s fastest-growing cohort in music and podcast listening. When asked to consider the biggest cultural event of the last year, they were twice as likely to say “a song, album, or podcast that I love and listened to repeatedly” over some of the biggest events that dominated news or social media headlines.
Spotify has over 551 million listeners who use the platform to soundtrack their lives. Their engagement with its catalogue of over 100 million songs, 5 million podcasts (including 100,000+ video podcasts), and 350,000 audiobooks both reflects culture and their passion for the creators who are driving it. The streamer asserts that is why there was a 1,560% increase in global streams of Spotify’s Barbie Official Playlist the day after the movie’s premiere. Spotify users spend on average over 2.4 hours a day listening on the platform and they have built podcast communities, fan clubs around playlists and charts (from K-Pop stans to Brazilian funk fans), and loyal superfan groups for creators.
Since its debut on Spotify in February of 2023, Gen Zs have used the AI-powered DJ to stream over 1.5 Bn minutes of music and recommendations globally. Gen Z in the UK made up nearly two-thirds (63%) of total global Blend playlist shares in the first half of 2023.
Key findings from the report
- 77% of Gen Zs in the UK agree that podcasts take you deeper into any topic bringing listeners to the core of any subject.
- UK Gen Zs’ podcast listening in the Education category has surged by 61% in the last year, while increases in Religion/Spirituality (+111%), Health & Fitness (+87%), and History (+80%), among others, indicate a thirst for knowledge
- With Spotify as their global classroom, Gen Zs are able to proactively curate their own curriculum and immerse themselves in unfamiliar areas of culture. Around half of Gen Z podcast listeners in the UK (53%) say they’ve learned about a community they’re not a part of, “and probably wouldn’t have learned about elsewhere” via podcasts.
- Gen Zs in the UK generated more than 250 million podcast streams on Spotify in the first half of 2023 – fuelling a 58% increase since the year prior.
- 76% say podcasts teach them about topics they wish they’d learned about in school.
- According to previous Fan Study research, Gen Zs on Spotify discover podcast content at a rate more than double that of any other generation. That authenticity resonates with Gen Zs in the UK – 74% agree they’re more interested in learning from normal people’s lived experiences than so-called “experts.”
- 78% of Gen Zs in the UK say podcasts offer a refreshing space for debate
- 64% of Gen Zs in the UK believe podcasting is more trustworthy than other forms of media because it’s representative of more diverse voices and points of view.
- 89% agree “the speed of culture today is accelerating creative grow.
- 76% of UK Gen Zs agree “viral trends cause culture to evolve quicker than ever before.” And keeping up with culture at large is a non-negotiable for Gen Zs, even when life gets too busy or the content queue gets longer. For example, 39% of Gen Zs in the UK have listened to a podcast at a faster-than-normal speed in the past year while over two-thirds (71%) have played songs at a quicker tempo – far more than Millennials (28% and 37% respectively.
- Gen Zs are becoming increasingly borderless – they are 44% more likely to feel that music is a gateway to other cultures than they did in 2021, while 78% say they’ve used either music or podcasts as a way to learn about cultures and experiences that differ from their own. 4% predict that future cultural influences will be shaped more by emerging markets than global superpowers.
- 63% of UK Gen Zs say they like music that’s not in their native language — a significant increase from 2021 (when just 47% expressed the same view).
The full report, Culture Next Volume 05, is free and can be downloaded here.
