Headline
Drake Attains Top Position on Spotify's 'Most Streamed' Artists List as Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us' Reigns on Apple Music – Here are the Leading Streamed Artists and Songs in 2024
In 2024, billionaire pop sensation Taylor Swift, who concluded an all-time record tour and dropped a 31-track album to become the year's wealthiest female musician, maintained a strong presence on major streaming platforms. The ongoing rivalry between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, which greatly impacted the R&B scene, also seemingly helped them secure spots on the year-end charts.
Key Highlights
Swift was crowned Spotify’s global top artist for the year, racking up over 26.6 billion streams worldwide. Although Apple Music didn’t release its complete list of top-streamed artists, it did declare Swift as their platform’s most-streamed artist.
The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Drake, and Billie Eilish rounded out the top 5 of Spotify’s globally streamed artist list, with Kendrick Lamar, who was due to headline the Super Bowl in February and had a significant year largely due to his beef with Drake, noticeably missing from the top 10.
Apple Music did release its list of top-streamed songs, with Lamar’s “Not Like Us”—a hit diss track aimed at Drake as part of their ongoing feud—taking the top spot, followed by "Beautiful Things" by Benson Boone and "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter.
Swift reclaimed Billboard's top artists of 2024 title for the fourth time, with Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, and Drake finishing behind her. Drake was named Billboard’s year-end top R&B/hip-hop artist for the eighth time, amassing twice as many year-end number 1 titles as any other artist, despite Billboard naming Lamar’s “Not Like Us” the year’s top R&B/hip-hop song.
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Major Number
Billboard reported that the Drake and Lamar feud generated $15.4 million across platforms in 2024. Lamar’s “Not Like Us”—the chart-topping, Grammy-nominated song targeting Drake in their dispute—was the biggest earner, delivering around $7.6 million in revenue from streaming, sales, and publishing. Lamar’s star-studded collaboration “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin, which sparked the rift in March, also garnered around $4.6 million in revenue. Drake’s diss tracks, “Family Matters” and “Push Ups,” garnered around $1 million each, but Drake sold almost double the number of album units as Lamar did, according to Billboard.
Additional Points
Spotify users took to social media to criticize the streaming platform for its Spotify Wrapped package, expressing disappointment with the longer-than-usual wait and the lack of statistics compared to competitors like Apple. Users felt that the package, which provides trends and top artists and songs of the year, lacked features such as top genres and albums. Spotify Wrapped's new AI features, including one that assigned users phrases based on their listening habits, were also met with criticism.
Our Website Evaluation
Our estimated net worth for Swift stands at around $1.6 billion. Swift became a billionaire last October due to her record-breaking Eras Tour, which generated more than $2 billion in gross revenue and made her the world's richest female musician, surpassing Rihanna.
Spotify's Most-Streamed Artists Globally
- Taylor Swift
- The Weeknd
- Bad Bunny
- Drake
- Billie Eilish
- Travis Scott
- Peso Pluma
- Kanye West
- Ariana Grande
- Feid
Spotify's Most-Streamed Songs Globally
- “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter
- “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone
- “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish
- “Gata Only” by FloyyMenor, Cris Mj
- “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims
- “End of Beginning” by Djo
- “Too Sweet” by Hozier
- “One Of The Girls (with JENNIE, Lily Rose Depp)” by The Weeknd
- “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift
- “Die With A Smile” by Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga
Apple Music's Most-Streamed Songs Globally
- “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
- “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone
- “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter
- “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey
- “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift
In the business realm, Taylor Swift's music dominated streaming platforms, securing positions on both Spotify's and Apple Music's year-end charts. Despite a notable absence from Spotify's top 10, Drake still amassed significant success, with his diss track "Not Like Us" topping Apple Music's list.
