Spotify is celebrating its 20th anniversary, marking two decades since the platform that transformed global music streaming was founded in 2006.
Since its launch, Spotify has grown into one of the world’s most widely used audio streaming services, offering more than 100 million tracks alongside podcasts and audiobooks, fundamentally changing how audiences consume music and spoken content.
To commemorate the milestone, the company released its all-time rankings for the most streamed artists, songs, albums, podcasts and audiobooks, compiled from listening data across hundreds of millions of users worldwide. Spotify said the lists reflect “the music and stories that didn’t just break through, but stayed”.
Pop superstar Taylor Swift leads the list as the most streamed artist of all time, followed by Bad Bunny, Drake, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran. Other major names in the top rankings include Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Eminem, Kanye West and Coldplay.
When it comes to individual tracks, The Weeknd dominates with his 2020 global hit “Blinding Lights”, which holds the record as the most streamed song on the platform. It is followed closely by Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You”, alongside other popular tracks such as “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood and Harry Styles’ “As It Was”.
In the podcast category, “The Joe Rogan Experience” leads the global rankings, ahead of titles including “Crime Junkie” and “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard”.
Meanwhile, the audiobook charts are dominated by author Sarah J. Maas, with her “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series occupying multiple top positions.
Spotify, founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon and launched publicly in 2008, now operates in 184 markets and reports over 750 million users globally. The platform expanded into podcasts in 2015 and audiobooks in 2022, further diversifying its content offering.
The announcement of its 20-year milestone surprised many users, with some taking to social media to reflect on how quickly the platform has evolved since its early days in the late 2000s.
