"Unstoppable" Drake tops Spotify for the 2nd year in a row in their 2016 top lists

“Unstoppable” Drake tops Spotify for the 2nd year in a row in their 2016 top lists

By Jacca-RouteNoteDecember 1, 201613 mins read

Spotify have revealed the top streaming lists for 2016 taking a look back at the year in music and seeing who dominated the platform.

Today Spotify released their annual look back at the year after 2016 has shown an incredible increase in music streaming popularity. The lists highlights the success of artists like Rihanna who takes her second year as the most streamed female artist on Spotify, whilst Drake continues his domination of the service taking the top streamed position for the second year in a row.

Spotify’s chief content & chief strategy officer, Stefan Blom said: “Drake has been unstoppable this year – he’s a true global superstar. With the top album and the top song this year, as well as his successful Summer Sixteen tour, Drake continues to engage his fans in a way that only Drake can; it’s no surprise he is dominating the music industry.”

Drake isn’t the only success story to come out of music streaming this year however as services saw their best year ever, adding phenomenal numbers of new users. Streaming’s giant rise in 2016 has been so significant that it has driven the first increase in recorded music revenue for years as well as climbing to become the biggest earner for major record labels Warner Music Group and Sony Music.

Spotify’s Discover Weekly has had a great first, full year of release with Discover Weekly tracks being streamed over 9 billion times this year alone. Thanks to features like Spotify’s lauded Discover Weekly playlists listeners have been able to discover more new music than has ever been possible before.

Spotify’s Global Year in Music 2016

Most Streamed Artists

For the second year in a row, Drake was the world’s most streamed artist with over 4.7 billion streams this year, more than doubling his record of 1.8 billion streams last year. In fact, Drake is the most streamed artist of all time on Spotify with over 8.7 billion streams.

Here are the top five artists for 2016:

Most Streamed Female Artists

Putting in ‘work’ this year with over 2.5 billion streams, Rihanna takes home the title of most streamed female artist for a second year in a row with Ariana Grande, Sia, Adele and Fifth Harmony rounding out the top 5:

Most Streamed Male Artists

Behind Drake and with the help of his late 2015 release of his album, Purpose, Justin Bieber shoots to the number two spot on the list of most streamed male artists followed by Twenty One Pilots, Kanye West and Coldplay:

Top Five Breakout Artists

One Direction fans still have love for ZAYN, putting him on top of this year’s list of breakout artists along with FRENSHIP, Anne-Marie, Madeintyo and Rob $tone. These breakout artists made their mark in 2016:

Most Streamed Tracks

Drake’s One Dance made history this year by overtaking last year’s winner Lean On by Major Lazer (ft. MØ and DJ Snake), as the most popular song ever on Spotify with almost 970 million streams.

Most Streamed Albums

After dropping Views in April, Drake’s album has racked up over 2.45 billion streams on Spotify in 2016, making it the most streamed album of the year. Here are the top 5 most streamed albums for 2016:

Most Popular Playlists

Of Spotify’s 2 billion+ playlists, Today’s Top Hits was the most popular this year with over nearly 12 million followers

Fun Facts: