Spotify, founded in 2006, is now a dominating force as a music streaming service, but it wasn’t always that way. The first milestone for the platform was to create an app in 2008. It started out streaming to only six European countries but experienced major growth when it was launched in the U.S. in 2011.
Spotify was created by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. Ek is now the CEO while Lorentzon holds a co-founder role. The headquarters is in Stockholm, Sweden. The company is now a public company with an IPO date of April 3, 2018. Its market share is estimated between 32 and 34%.
There are two options to get Spotify music on demand.
Free Music
You can listen to anything you want on Spotify but the audio quality won’t be quite the same as it is in the paid version, not that you will hear a great deal of difference. The biggest difference is that you will also hear advertisements as they pop up after every few songs.
Paid Option
Paid Spotify subscribers are charged a monthly fee, which gives them access to the platform’s entire library with any ads. There is better quality to your streaming music also.
The ads in the free version help monetize the platform, although most of Spotify’s revenue comes from paid subscriptions. The ad revenue is calculated based on the time free users are on the platform. This can change depending on the increase or decrease of time used by free users on the app.
Those who are looking at launching the Spotify app, marketing using the service, or searching for music on it should keep the following statistics in mind.
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Highlights
- Spotify has 155 million subscribers in 2020 and 365 million users in 2021.
- Spotify is a global platform as it’s accessible to people in more than 79 countries.
- New songs are added on Spotify at a rate of 60,000 a day with the platform having more than 70 million songs.
- There are more than 3 billion playlists available on Spotify.
- Google Play Store reports the Spotify app had more than 1 billion downloads as of May 2021.
- The majority of Spotify users in the United States, 55%, are under 35 years old.
- Spotify has a goal to have 98.8 million American users by 2023.
- Those under 35 years old make up a total of 55 % of Spotify’s user base.
- Spotify users are majority men with 56% of users being male.
- The average Spotify listener tunes in for 148 minutes every day.
- The most streamed artist on Spotify is Drake who had 36.2 billion lifetime plays.
- More than 700,000 podcast titles exist on the platform.
- The most played song on Spotify is “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran, which has 2.7 billion plays according to figures through Feb. 2021.
- Total Spotify revenue for 2020 was $10.8 billion.
- Subscriptions make up the biggest portion of Spotify revenue, generating 8.5 billion.
Spotify usage statistics
1. Spotify has 155 million subscribers in 2020 and 365 million users in 2021.
The second quarter of 2021 shows a dramatic increase in growth with the platform adding more than 70 million users in one year from 2020. Users are different from subscribers, as subscribers pay for a subscription to the platform where users include both subscribers and those who use the free version of the platform.
Spotify had 68 million users in 2015 and grew steadier every year with larger growth margins beginning in the Q2 of 2019.
2. Spotify is a global platform as it’s accessible to people in more than 79 countries.
The company operates 44 offices globally. While Spotify is popular in the U.S., most listeners aren’t in America. They are in Europe. The platform has 121 million European users versus 83 million in North America. Europe makes up 35% of the platform’s user base.
Additionally, there are 76 million users in Latin America and the rest of the world makes up the remaining 66 million users.
3. New songs are added on Spotify at a rate of 60,000 a day with the platform having more than 70 million songs.
Continued growth like this would mean that Spotify will have more than 90 million tracks by the end of 2022. It is expected that it will gain more than 100 million tracks by the first part of 2023.
Analysts also say the 60,000 daily figure will rise much higher in the years to come. That is based on past performance where daily uploads hit nearly 40,000 new tracks in 2019, showing there was a 50% growth in daily uploads over the past two years.
4. There are more than 3 billion playlists available on Spotify.
These playlists include music picked from more than 2,000 genres. Listeners have a variety of different playlists to pick from. Some are arranged by artist, so if you want to listen to Elvis Presley, you can find a playlist of his greatest hits. Other playlists are arranged by mood or time period. So you can pick an upbeat playlist to work out to and enjoy 70’s jazz as you drift off to sleep.
5. Google Play Store reports the Spotify app had more than 1 billion downloads as of May 2021.
These downloads are on Android installations. The billion in downloads signifies a doubling of installs from two years ago. One of the factors leading up to this goal is the expanded partnership with Samsung to become Samsung Galaxy’s default music player beginning in 2019. Samsung sells millions of phones annually, making it the top-selling Android phone manufacturer.
The music platform offered Samsung customers a free trial for six months when the announcement of the partnership became public.
Spotify demographics
6. The majority of Spotify users in the United States, 55%, are under 35 years old.
Other statistics indicate those between 18 and 29 years old make up the bulk of Spotify’s audience with 21% of those stating they tune into Spotify multiple times during the day. However, Spotify’s business structure allows for target marketing in the ages between 13 years old to 65 years old, which is quite broad. Around 19% of Spotify’s audience is over the age of 55.
7. Spotify has a goal to have 98.8 million American users by 2023.
Numbers show that even if Spotify was to reach this goal, the American market will not outpace the European audience. This shows that Spotify had a European playlist specifically to celebrate a special “Europe Day” on May 9. The idea was to celebrate Europe’s peace and unity through the coronavirus pandemic.
Spotify added 10 European markets in 2020, solidifying its presence there. Among those were Russia, Ukraine, and Croatia.
8. Those under 35 years old make up a total of 55 % of Spotify’s user base.
It is clear that younger users have a great influence on the platform in that millennials are between the ages of 25 and 34 and account for 29% of users. Another 26% of Spotify account users are under 24 years old. This is true across the global market. The youth statistic is also proven by another fact that 55% of users use their Facebook accounts to register on Spotify. Also, 45% of listeners moved from Pandora to Spotify.
9. Spotify users are majority men with 56% of users being male.
Spotify is unquestionably more male-dominated than other similar streaming services. This is different from Apple Music, where 56% of users are female. While there isn’t a definite answer as to why this exists, studies indicate that men have different musical tastes than women and the ability to create your playlist from the variety of music available on Spotify may be one reason for the platform attracting men.
10. The average Spotify listener tunes in for 148 minutes every day.
Numbers show the average person listens to 40 Spotify artists weekly. One thing Spotify offers is a personalized capture of their favorite tunes. This comes across as “my Spotify stats” which comes out yearly. It summarizes what you listen to throughout the year.
Statistics about top rankings on Spotify
11. The most streamed artist on Spotify is Drake who had 36.2 billion lifetime plays.
Drake didn’t achieve that title until this year. He had 51.62 million monthly listeners in 2019. While that is substantial, it was at the bottom of the celebrity list back then.
Other artists have achieved enormous success on the platform, acquiring the most global listeners of all time. Some of those include Justin Bieber, who topped the list in 2019, Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran, J. Balvin, Ariana Grande, and Camila Cabello.
12. More than 700,000 podcast titles exist on the platform.
Additionally, Spotify is the primary platform used for podcast listening in the U.S. Its app ranks number one specifically for listening to podcasts.
The most popular podcast on the platform is the Joe Rogan Experience. Most popular is Joe Rogan Experience, a quirky talk show that wanders through a series of topics from drugs, comedy, and politics. Spotify now has exclusive licensing of the podcast.
13. The most played song on Spotify is “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran, which has 2.7 billion plays according to figures through Feb. 2021.
Ed Sheeran has been a Spotify favorite for several years, ranking in the top three artists for the platform in both 2019 and 2020. He busted through the top of monthly listener statistics when he acquired 69.15 monthly listeners, the largest on Spotify’s records at that time. Sheeran was propelled to the top after his fourth studio album called “No 6 Collaborations Project” was released in 2019.
Statistics about Spotify revenue
14. Total Spotify revenue for 2020 was $10.8 billion.
This is shadowed against Spotify’s operating loss of $581 million that year. Spotify states it had a 20% growth in premium subscribers to 165 million in 2021. That led to revenue increasing by 23% in Q2 with premium revenue growing 17%. Ad-supported revenue grew heavily at 110% in 2021.
15. Subscriptions make up the biggest portion of Spotify revenue, generating 8.5 billion.
Advertising makes up the rest of the financial revenue picture of 10.8 billion for Spotify. However, the substantial growth of ad-supported revenue in 2021 is primarily because of direct and podcast sale channels, according to Spotify.
The video product within Ad Studio and contributions from the global market resulted in Ad Studio growing 165% so far in 2021.
FAQs
What is Spotify most known for?
The music streaming platform has several features that make it distinctive. The primary one is its usability in that it is incredibly simple to use either with the free or paid versions. Beyond that, its music-sharing features and quality of streaming have helped to make it a top streaming service.
Why is Spotify so popular in Europe?
Spotify started out streaming to six European countries and didn’t add the U.S. until later.
Another reason for its popularity is that the music platform has numerous genres, including top artists from European countries.
Can I keep my downloaded songs if I end my subscription?
No, any offline songs you’ve downloaded will be deleted if you end your subscription.
You will need to subscribe to the Spotify premium service again to save your songs offline. You can save any album or playlist for offline listening as long as you are a premium subscriber by hitting download.
Is downloading music from Spotify legal?
It isn’t illegal to download music to listen to offline if you are a premium subscription member.
However, it is illegal to download or extract Spotify music to use outside of the platform in other ways. This applies to both covers or originals as it is all copyrighted through Spotify.
Can I listen to Spotify without wifi?
Yes, you can listen to Spotify using the data on your phone. You can also download Spotify playlists to listen offline without an internet connection as long as you are a paid subscriber. It is easy to download albums and top songs and Spotify offers instructions on how to do it.
How much data does my phone use with Spotify?
You will use around 2MB of data for a three-minute song. This means you will use around 40MB an hour.
Higher quality streaming will use more data and when you pick the higher quality songs, you can expect more data use.
You can reduce your data usage by listening to music and playlists offline rather than through the service and by switching off “autoplay” in your app’s settings. Also, using wifi instead of your phone data will help preserve data use.
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