Spotify Revenue and Usage Statistics (2021)

What is Spotify?

Available on smartphones, PCs, tablets, speakers, TVs, and cars, Spotify is one of the most popular digital content platforms helping users to discover and instant access millions of music, podcasts, and video from a variety of artists and genres worldwide. 

Spotify is a free of charge service where its users can register and start searching and listening to music and podcasts without any paid subscription. In Free Spotify, users can also create playlists, add songs to favorites, and get recommendations based on what they like.

What is Spotify Premium?

Spotify Premium is Spotify’s paid subscription where users are offered more than one plans according to their usage behavior and needs. In all Spotify Premium plans, users can download music to listen offline from anywhere, enjoy music and podcasts without ad interruptions, and hit unlimited skips.  

Student Plan: $4.99 per month per account offering ad free music experience, offline listening, and on-demand playback

Individual Premium Plan: $9.99 per month per account with one month free offering ad-free listening, offline play, and on-demand playback

Spotify Duo Plan: $12.99 per month for 2 accounts with one month free, preferred by couples, offering Duo Mix, a playlist for two, regularly updated with music couples enjoy, ad free music listening, offline playing, and on-demand playback.

Family Plan: $14.99 per month for up to 6 accounts living under one roof, offering blocking music, ad-free experience, offline playing, on-demand playback, Spotify Kids for the kids under age 12, and Family Mix where the family can create a playlist regularly updated with music they love.

Spotify – Company Overview

Spotify User Stats (2021)

• Spotify’s total number monthly active users grew 24% Y/Y to 356 million in the first quarter of 2021. The company added 11 million MAUs in the first quarter, which drove
  double digit Y/Y growth across all regions. (Spotify)

• Spotify’s total number of premium subscribers increased by 21% Y/Y to 158 million in the first quarter of 2021. In Q1 2021, the company added nearly 4 million subscribers to its premium user base. (Spotify)

• 40% of Spotify’s total number of premium subscribers in Q1 2021 came from Europe, followed by North America with 29%.

• Spotify expected to reach a total MAUs of 328-348 million at the end of 2020. The estimated total number of premium subscribers for the end of 2020 was 146 to 153 million. (Spotify)
• Spotify expects to reach a total MAUs of 366-373 million in the second quarter of 2021. The estimated total number of premium subscribers for the end of the second quarter of 2021 is 162-166 million.
• Spotify expects to reach a total MAUs of 402-422 million at the end of 2021. The estimated total number of Spotify premium subscribers for the full year 2021 is 172-184 million.
• There are 4+ billion playlists, 70+ million tracks, and 1.9+ million podcast titles available in Spotify as of June 2021. (Spotify)
• Spotify is available in 178 markets worldwide as of June 2021. (Spotify)
• Number of artists using Spotify for Artists tools on a monthly basis has grown to 690,000+, up 68% year-on-year. (Spotify)
• The number of artists who make up the top 90% of streams has grown 43% year-over-year to 43,000+.
• Billie Eilish’s ‘My Future’ has been streamed 42+ million times on Spotify and the artist and Spotify created a website called ‘A Letter to Your Future Self’. 
• In 2020, Billie Eilish continued her reign as Spotify’s most-streamed female artist for the second year in a row, followed by Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. (Spotify)
• 91,000+ creators (artists) have fundraised directly from fans. 
• Ed Sheeran is the most followed artist on Spotify with 68+ million followers as of August 2020, followed by Ariana Grande with 49+ million..  (ChartMasters)
• Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ is the decade’s most listened to song on Spotify with 2.5+ billion streams. (BBC)
• The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights became the most streamed song of 2020.
• The most-streamed album of 2020 is Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG with over 3.3 billion streams, followed by The Weeknd’s After Hours and Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding. Rounding out the list of most-streamed albums you’ll find Harry Styles’ Fine Line and Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia. 

• As of May 21, 2020, the most-streamed weekly track on Spotify worldwide is The Weekend’s ‘Blinding Lights’ with 37.69 million streams worldwide. (Spotify)

• Spotify podcast listeners will outnumber Apple Podcasts’ in 2021, according to eMarketer’s forecast. The report estimates that in 2021, 28.2 million people will listen to podcasts on Spotify on a monthly basis, while 28.0 million will listen via Apple Podcasts.

Spotify Revenue Statistics (2021)

• Spotify revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was €2,147 million, up 16% year-over-year.
• Spotify expects to have a total revenue between €2.16-€2.36 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2021.
• Expected total revenue of Spotify for the full year 2021 is between €9.11-€9.51 billion.
• Expected total revenue for the end of 2020 was €2.05-€2.25 billion. (Spotify)
• In the last quarter of 2020, Spotify revenue was €2,168 million, grew 17% Y/Y in Q4.
• In the third quarter of 2020, Spotify revenue jumped to €1,975 million, with an increase of 14% Y/Y in Q3 or 19% Y/Y on a constant currency basis. (Spotify)
• Since launch, Spotify paid €15+ billion revenue to its rightholders. (Spotify)
• Total revenue of Spotify grew 13% year-on-year to €1,889 million in the second quarter of 2020. Premium revenue grew 17% to €1,758 million at the same period. Ad-supported revenue fell 21% year-on-year because of COVID-19. (Spotify)
• Spotify announced a global, multi-year licencing agreement with Universal Music Group to secure the label’s catalog for streaming rights. (TechCrunch)
• For Spotify Premium, ARPU (average revenue per user) was down 7% year-on-year to €4.12 in the first quarter of 2021. (Spotify)

• Within the second quarter 2020, Spotify announced a $20 million podcast advertising partnership with Omnicom Media Group. (MediaPost)
• Premium Gross Margin was 28.1% in Q2 2020, down slightly from 28.3% in Q1. Ad-Supported Gross Margin was (11.9)% in Q2, down from (6.6)% in Q1. (Spotify)

Spotify News

Storytel and Spotify sign audiobooks partnership

Spotify launches paid podcast subscriptions in the United States

Spotify introduces a new miniplayer to let users stream Spotify inside the Facebook app

Spotify Mixes are new personalized playlists featuring your favorite artists, genres, and decades

Spotify HiFi coming soon with CD Quality & lossless audio

Spotify for Artists adds new updates to help music makers get discovered

Spotify patents speech recognition tech to suggest music based on your emotions

Spotify Adds 9 Public Domain Audiobooks With Exclusive Recordings

Spotify introduces ‘affordable’ daily and weekly subscription plans in India

Spotify Now Lets You Find Songs By Typing In Lyrics

Spotify partners with Riot Games for an exclusive League of Legends esports podcast

Spotify takes offense at the announcement of Apple One

Spotify’s Real-Time Lyrics Feature is Now Available in 26 Markets

Spotify’s Testing ‘Hey Spotify’ Feature Voice Activation Feature 

Spotify’s Redesigned Mobile Look Available on iOS