Rather than Spotify’s monthly listeners, we take a look at the all-time streams of every track from artists’ catalogues.

Monthly listeners are a great way to see which artists are currently popular on the streaming service, whereas this list is a great way to see the most popular artists in the last decade (since streaming’s growth). Find more Spotify top tens such as the most-streamed tracks of 2021, most-streamed songs of the summer, most-streamed songs in a single day and the most-streamed female artists by monthly listeners.

An artist’s all-time streams aren’t shared by Spotify with the public, so this data comes from ChartMasters. Updated daily, ChartMasters explain their methodology and admit the full list of 1,000 artists may not be 100% accurate. Their data is “based on streams from tracks available inside their personal page’s sections Albums, Singles and Compilations. They are combined together and defined as “Lead streams”.” Appears on streams such as featured tracks are not counted towards lead streams or the ranking, but this number is listed.

First up is Drake, with a whopping 46 billion streams.

1. Drake

• Lead streams: 46,697,543,955
• Featured streams: 18,001,099,588
• Number of tracks: 248

2. Bad Bunny

• Lead streams: 35,843,162,498
• Featured streams: 4,620,978,012
• Number of tracks: 164

3. Ed Sheeran

• Lead streams: 35,801,925,406
• Featured streams: 2,577,800,261
• Number of tracks: 230

4. The Weeknd

• Lead streams: 31,588,739,684
• Featured streams: 3,963,254,649
• Number of tracks: 180

5. Ariana Grande

• Lead streams: 30,689,233,907
• Featured streams: 1,964,296,072
• Number of tracks: 181

6. Justin Bieber

• Lead streams: 30,250,265,777
• Featured streams: 10,588,515,720
• Number of tracks: 224

7. Taylor Swift

• Lead streams: 28,852,695,444
• Featured streams: 395,228,397
• Number of tracks: 320

8. Eminem

• Lead streams: 28,368,411,475
• Featured streams: 3,977,418,440
• Number of tracks: 279

9. Post Malone

• Lead streams: 27,852,251,588
• Featured streams: 2,331,533,785
• Number of tracks: 83

10. BTS

• Lead streams: 25,546,119,271
• Featured streams: 199,545,522
• Number of tracks: 253

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A rough calculation of the figures some of the most-streamed artists have earned on the music streaming platform to date.

Last year we featured an infographic showing the total earnings of some of the most streamed artists on Spotify. This data from TopDollar was based on streams collected up until January 2021 by Kworb, however the actual total number of streams is quite different.

At the time, TopDollar estimated that the most-streamed artists on Spotify, Drake, had pulled in a total of 21.5 billion streams. Using Digital Music News’ calculation that one stream earns an average of $0.0049, as well as Music Business Worldwide’s calculation that around half of the revenue goes to the artist, TopDollar ended up estimating Drake’s earnings at over $52 million. Kworb’s total number of streams is based on daily and weekly top 200 data from Spotify, which is actually significantly lower than the real figure. Using Digital Music News and Music Business Worldwide’s calculations (number of streams x 0.0049 / 2) and ChartMasters’ latest total streaming numbers of the top ten artists, we calculate the estimated total earnings of the highest earning artists on Spotify as it stand in May 2022.

It should be noted, Digital Music News, Music Business Worldwide and ChartMasters’ figures are estimates. Spotify and other music streaming services do not pay artists a flat rate amount per stream, the split between artists and record labels (not to mention songwriters, managers, etc.) varies from artist to artist, and ChartMasters does not include featured streams in their “lead streams” statistics.

Unsurprisingly, Drake still holds the top spot with over $110 million in total earnings. Ariana Grande is the highest-earning female artist on Spotify, with BTS securing its position as the top-earning band. Don’t forget, Spotify is just one source of revenue for artists. The highest earning artists in the world have multiple sources of income from other stores, licensing deals, business ventures, live shows, merch sales, etc.

1. Drake

Total earnings: $114,408,982

Lead streams: 46,697,543,955

2. Bad Bunny

Total earnings: $87,815,748

Lead streams: 35,843,162,498

3. Ed Sheeran

Total earnings: $87,714,717

Lead streams: 35,801,925,406

4. The Weeknd

Total earnings: $77,392,412

Lead streams: 31,588,739,684

5. Ariana Grande

Total earnings: $75,188,623

Lead streams: 30,689,233,907

6. Justin Bieber

Total earnings: $74,113,151

Lead streams: 30,250,265,777

7. Taylor Swift

Total earnings: $70,689,103

Lead streams: 28,852,695,444

8. Eminem

Total earnings: $69,502,608

Lead streams: 28,368,411,475

9. Post Malone

Total earnings: $68,238,016

Lead streams: 27,852,251,588

10. BTS

Total earnings: $62,587,992

Lead streams: 25,546,119,271

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With Harry Styles’ latest single gaining a lot of attention, here’s how the top ten currently stack up on Spotify as of April 2022.

English singer-songwriter Adele released her lead single from her fourth studio album 30 back in October last year. Within a few days of release, Easy On Me broke records across music streaming platforms such as Spotify and Amazon Music for the most number of streams in a single day.

On 1st April this year, Harry Styles released the lead single from his upcoming third album Harry’s House. On release day, As It Was broke Spotify’s record for the most-streamed song in the US in a single day, closing the day with 8.3 million streams, beating Olivia Rodrigo’s drivers license with 8 million streams. Alongside the US record, Styles’ new single also achieve the record for the most-streamed song globally in a single day for 2022. But outside of this year, how does the track stack up globally among the most-streamed songs in a single day?

Here’s how the top ten looks on Spotify at the moment. Warning, it’s mostly Christmas songs.

1. Adele – Easy On Me

19.7 million streams

Date released: 15 October 2021

Date achieved: 15 October 2021

2. Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas Is You

17.4 million streams

Date released: 29 October 1994

Date achieved: 24 December 2021

3. Harry Styles – As It Was

16.1 million streams

Date released: 1 April 2022

Date achieved: 1 April 2022

4. Wham! – Last Christmas

15.8 million streams

Date released: 3 December 1984

Date achieved: 24 December 2020

5. Olivia Rodrigo – drivers license

13.7 million streams

Date released: 8 January 2021

Date achieved: 15 January 2021

6. Olivia Rodrigo – good 4 u

12.5 million streams

Date released: 14 May 2021

Date achieved: 25 May 2021

7. Drake – Girls Want Girls (with Lil Baby)

12.3 million streams

Date released: 3 September 2021

Date achieved: 3 September 2021

8. Ariana Grande – Santa Tell Me

12.2 million streams

Date released: 24 November 2014

Date achieved: 24 December 2020

9. Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree

12.1 million streams

Date released: 19 October 1958

Date achieved: 24 December 2021

10. Bobby Helms – Jingle Bell Rock

12.0 million streams

Date released: 28 November 1957

Date achieved: 24 December 2021

Have you got what it takes to top 19 million streams in a single day? Get your own music on Spotify for free with RouteNote to find out.