A new decade is just around the corner and Spotify has decided to celebrate by revealing the top five most streamed artists of the past 10 years.
The 10-year challenge might be revealing just how much we’ve all changed since the 2010s began, but the music streaming service took the upcoming new year as an opportunity to focus on the things that have been more consistent.
Spotify released its usual annual ranking of the year’s most streamed artists this week, though this time the figures included similar stats for the entire decade.
By analysing what users have been listening to, the company has been able to identify the most-streamed male and female artists from the past 10 years, as well as the biggest tracks.
Ariana Grande emerged as the biggest female artist of the decade, followed by Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Sia and Beyoncé respectively.
Grande has come along way since releasing her debut album Yours Truly in 2013 and her latest album, Thank U, Next, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart earlier this year, marking the biggest streaming week ever for a pop album.
Drake emerged as the leader of the male artists this decade and also earned the title of the most streamed artist overall, topping 28 billion total streams over the past 10 years.
Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, Eminem and The Weeknd followed the God’s Plan singer in the male category, while the remaining top five artists of the decade overall included Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, Ariana Grande and Eminem respectively.
Though Ed Sheeran came in second place for the most streamed artist, his song Shape Of You emerged victorious when it came to the most streamed songs of the decade.
The song was only released in 2017 but since then Shape Of You has managed to rack up a total of 2.3 billion total streams, propelling it into first place ahead of Drake, Kyla and WizKid’s One Dance, Post Malone and 21 Savage’s Rockstar, Halsey and The Chainsmokers’ Closer, and another of his songs, Thinking Out Loud.
Drake may have taken the crown for the past decade but he’s apparently been less popular this year, as he didn’t even make the top five most streamed artists of 2019.
Post Malone came out on top this year, followed by Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran and Bad Bunny. This year’s top five tracks included Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes’ Señorita, Billie Eilish’s bad guy, Post Malone and Swae Lee’s Sunflower, Ariana Grande’s 7 rings and Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’s Old Town Road – Remix.
Check out Spotify’s findings below:
Spotify’s announcement comes ahead of the service’s personalised ‘Wrapped’ insights, which show users which artists, songs, music genres and podcasts they streamed most in the past 12 months.
This year, the company will also provide users with ‘My Decade Wrapped’, which will reveal listeners’ favourite content from the past 10 years.
It will be interesting to see how the results change in the coming years!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.