Spotify Revenue and Usage Statistics (2021)

Spotify is the world’s biggest music streaming platform by number of subscribers. Users of the service simply need to register to have access to one of the biggest-ever collections of music in history, plus podcasts, and other audio content.

It operates on a freemium model. Free Spotify access comes with lower sound quality, and advertisements, and requires an internet connection. Those who pay for Spotify Premium can listen uninterrupted to high-quality recordings, and are able to download songs to any device on which they have the Spotify app.

Spotify was founded in 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden, by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. The two wanted to create a legal digital music platform to respond to growing challenge of online music piracy in the early 2000s.

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Eventually convincing record labels to agree to share content in return for an aggregate 20% stake, Spotify was launched in 2008. It was an instant success, with a Facebook partnership helping it rise rapidly to prominence. Surviving the transition to mobile technology, Spotify went public in April 2018, with a market cap of $26.5 billion after the first day of trading.

It has drawn criticism from recording artists, who complain that it pays too little. Claims to democratize the music industry have also been questioned, with the world’s biggest four music labels responsible for 87% of content available on Spotify.

Unfair or not, with the days of physical music long behind us (with the exception of vinyl junkies), Spotify dominates the way we consume music in the 21^st century. It does not have the run of the market, however. Its rivals include Deezer, Pandora, and most ominously Apple Music, which is aggressively seeking to gain market share.

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Want to know more about Spotify, who Spotify’s users are, what Spotify is worth, and more? Then keep reading…

Spotify Overview and Key Statistics

• 345 million Spotify users in Q4 2020, 155 million subscribers (Spotify)
• Spotify users by region Q4 2020: Europe, 121 million; North America, 83 million; Latin America, 76 million; rest of world, 66 million (Spotify)
• Spotify subscribers by region Q4 2020: Europe, 62 million; North America, 45 million; Latin America, 33 million; rest of world, 17 million (Spotify)
• Spotify market share estimated at 32-34% (Midia/Counterpoint)
• 55% of US Spotify users under age of 35 (Verto Analytics)
• Daily Spotify listening times varies from 99 minutes in Europe to 140 minutes in North America (GlobalWebIndex)
• 70 million songs on Spotify, with new songs added at a rate of 60,000/day (Spotify)
• Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” most played song on Spotify, with 2.7 billion plays as of February 2021 (ChartMasters)
• Drake the most streamed artist, with 36.2 billion lifetime plays (ChartMasters)
• Spotify 2020 revenue at €7.8 billion ($10.8 billion), with operating loss of $581 million ($696 million) (Spotify)

Key Spotify User Statistics

Source: Spotify

Source: Spotify

Source: Spotify

*June 2020 estimate, last official figure 60 million, June 2019

**January 2020

***October 2020, includes YouTube Premium

Source: Spotify/Statista/Reuters/Washington Post/SiriusXM

Source: Counterpoint

Source: Midia

Source: Verto Analytics

Source: ERA

Key Spotify Usage Statistics

Source: GlobalWebIndex

Source: Verto Analytics

Source: GlobalWebIndex

Key Spotify Content Statistics

Source: Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Tidal, Google, BBC, Deezer

*as of February 2021

Source: ChartMasters

*as of February 2021

Source: ChartMasters

Source: Spotify

*As of February 2021

Source: ChartMasters

Source: Midia

Key Spotify Revenue Statistics

Source: Spotify

Source: Spotify

Source: Spotify

*We’re faced with the challenge of how to account for shifting dollar-euro exchange rate. Spotify ARPU up to Q1 2020 is calculated at the April 2020 rate of $1.08 to the euro. Q2-Q4 2020 is calculated at the February 2020 rate of $1.21.

This effect means that from a global perspective Spotify ARPU seems to have climbed, though in real terms it has fallen.

Source: Spotify/Netflix

Source: Spotify

Source: Spotify

Source: Spotify

Source: Spotify

Source: Macrotrends

Other Key Spotify Statistics

• Spotify available in 171 markets (Spotify)
• Average hours spent listening to Spotify per month stands at 25 hours (Goodwater Capital) 
• 44% of users listen to Spotify on a daily basis (Goodwater Capital) 
• Spotify US penetration 23% among males and 20% among females (Statista)
• 55% of Spotify users aged 16-40 listened to more music due to the circumstances in 2020 (Spotify)
• 60,000 new songs added to Spotify each day as of 2021, equivalent to 22 million per year, up from 40,000 in 2019 (Spotify)
• Drake, WizKid and Kyla”s “One Dance” the first song to surpass 1 billion streams (MTV)
• The Weeknd most streamed artist as of February 2021, with 72.2 million monthly listeners (Spotify)
• Around a third of Spotify listening time is spent on Spotify-generated playlists, with another third going on user-generated playlists (Goodwater Capital) 
• 68% of users Spotify users aged 16-40 discover new music through algorithms or online playlists (Spotify)
• 2.2 million podcasts available on Spotify (Spotify)
• 108% year-on-year increase in podcast listeners on Spotify reported September 2020 (Spotify)
• 140% year-on-year increase in listeners to news & politics podcasts, 81% in educational podcasts, and 201% in health (Spotify)
• “Today’s Top Hits” Spotify playlist is followed by 27 million people (March 2020) (Spotify)
• Other influential playlists include “Top 50 Global” (16 million followers), “RapCaviar” (14 million) and “¡Viva Latino!” (11 million) (March 2020) (Spotify)
• Average users listen to 41 unique artists per week (Spotify)
• Increases in Spotify listeners using indoor devices over 2020, 28% desktop, 61% through speakers, and 55% on games consoles (Spotify)
• Estimates vary on how much a Spotify stream is worth to artist: from $0.006-0.0084 to as low as $0.00318/stream (The Verge/Soundcharts)
• Spotify claims that €21 billion paid out to rights holders since launch, as February 2021 (Spotify)
• Spotify raised $2.6 billion in funding before going public (CrunchBase)

More Music & Audio App Data

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