Culture
01 Dec 20

Spotify unveils Ireland's most streamed artist, album and track of 2020

With 144 million paid subscribers and 286 million monthly users, Spotify is the world's most popular streaming service currently, followed by Apple Music.

Late rapper Juice WRLD has been announced as Ireland's most streamed artist on Spotify in 2020, followed closely by Drake, Dublin singer-songwriter Dermot Kennedy, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.

Chicago rapper Juice Wrld (real name Jarad Anthony Higgins) died tragically on December 8th, 2019. He is known for his track 'Lucid Dreams', which has been streamed over a billion times on Spotify.

The most streamed track of the year in Ireland is 'Blinding Lights' by The Weeknd, Spotify has revealed. 'Roses (Imanbek Remix)' by Imanbek and SAINt JHN, 'Rockstar' by DaBaby and Roddy Ricch, 'Before You Go' by Lewis Capaldi and 'Head & Heart' by Joel Corry featuring MNEK round out the top five.

Dermot Kennedy’s Without Fear is officially the most streamed album of 2020 on Spotify Ireland, with Lewis Capaldi’s Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent in second place, Harry Styles’s Fine Line, Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa and After Hours by The Weeknd completing the albums chart.

Spotify has more than 600,000 paid subscribers in Ireland, with over 1.3 million people using its ad-funded service at some point.

The 2 Johnnies Podcast, the Blindboy Podcast and The Laughs of the Your Life with Doireann Garrihy all made headway on the podcast streaming charts.

The most streamed artist globally in 2020 was Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, with 8.3 billion plays, followed by Drake, J Balvin, Juice WRLD and The Weeknd.

The most streamed albums of 2020 around the world were YHLQMDLG by Bad Bunny, After Hours by The Weeknd, Hollywood’s Bleeding by Post Malone, Fine Line by Harry Styles and Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa

The most streamed tracks internationally are 'Blinding Lights' by The Weeknd, 'Dance Monkey' by Tones and I, 'The Box' by Roddy Ricch, 'Roses (Imanbek Remix)' by Imanbek and SAINt JHN and 'Don’t Start Now' by Dua Lipa.

Spotify has faced criticism from artists who claim its royalty payments for streams are inadequate and that they disproportionately benefit major players while most musicians can barely earn a living.