Position Paper 4: Wild Card
Spotify is one of the most dominant streaming services in the world. According to Business Insider, Spotify is ranked as the Best Streaming Service in 2021. Across the world there are 165 million premium subscribers and 381 million users.
Finding a streaming service today is easy, but finding one that allows each user to uniquely organize their favorite podcasts, artists, songs, playlists, and genres is not as common. Spotify is universally renowned as a successful audio streaming platform because of their great user experience. Each Spotify user, whether a premium subscriber or a regular user, is able to receive a personal profile, which Spotify uses to track their annual use of Spotify and their favorite audio streams. At the end of each year, Spotify includes a personal "Spotify Wrapped" for each Spotify user, which dives into how you spent your year on Spotify.
For example, my 2021 Spotify Wrapped went into great depth about my favorite artists, podcasts, songs, and playlists I listened to over the past year. This feature is a unique and impressive addition to the app, which demonstrates its overall popularity against other streaming apps.
According to the app, I spent 111,099 minutes streaming my favorite music over the past year. Spotify even went ahead and compiled my top 100 most played songs over the past year for me.
This interactive and personal feature is an example of the many reasons why Spotify has dominated the global charts. Each country has their own unique Spotify Wrapped, which allows accessible information to evaluate which countries prefer specific songs and artists.
While it may not be as obvious in the United States, there is a large cultural barrier present in the differences of music preference. Countries such as India, Mexico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom all present different cultural and musical preferences which can be uniquely displayed through Spotify Wrapped.
While we all think everyone is shamelessly listening to One Direction and Disney Hits, just like us, this is somehow not the case around the world. (I was just as shocked as you when I heard the news.)
While Bad Bunny dominated as Spotify's #1 artist, Olivia Rodrigo made advancements as the number one album globally, with over 1.1 billion streams worldwide of her album Sour.
Many well-known artists followed behind Olivia featuring their albums of 2021: Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, and Doja Cat.
Olivia Rodrigo snagged the #1 spot again for the number one song of the year, "Driver's License". She even made the list again at #4 for her song "good 4 u", demonstrating her global impact.
Following Olivia was Lil Nas X with "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)", The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber with "STAY", and Dua Lipa with "Levitating" feat. DaBaby).
In America this year, Olivia Rodrigo continued to dominate the charts with the number one streamed album (SOUR) of the year as well as placing at #1 and #2 ("driver's license" and "good 4 u") for the most streamed songs of 2021 in America.
Following SOUR in the top streamed albums of the year, was Morgan Wallen's: Dangerous: The Double Album, Planet Her by Doja Cat, Justice by Justin Bieber, and Legends Never Die by Juice WRLD.
While Olivia topped the most streamed albums and songs, she did not make the cut for the most streamed artist in the United States. Drake took the number one spot, followed by Taylor Swift, Juice WRLD, Kanye West, and Bad Bunny.
At first glance it may seem as though the American and worldwide charts are dominated by American artists but there are several international artists taking over Spotify's platforms this year: Drake and Justin Bieber (Canada), Bad Bunny (Puerto Rico), Dua Lipa (United Kingdom), and the Kid LAROI (Australia).
The top 5 streamed artists in India differ from anywhere else in the world (besides the inclusion of BTS). The #1 most streamed artist in India this year is Arijit Singh. Arijit is an Indian singer and music composer, and the majority of his songs are predominantly in Hindi, Bengali, and Telugu. This is Arijit Singh's second consecutive year as India's number one streamed artist of the year.
BTS held a top 5 spot for most streamed songs in India, with their hit "Butter". The group was also featured in the country's most streamed albums with three of their albums: BE, Love Yourself: Answer, and Map of the Soul: 7.
"STAY" by the Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber was also featured in the top ten streamed songs of the year as well as "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" by Lil Nas X.
This past year Spotify launched in the sixth-largest music market in the world: South Korea. The country is a powerhouse of K-POP and expanded Spotify's global footprint to 93 markets.
This past year South Korea's most streamed artist was BTS, joined by IU, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and K-pop group BLACKPINK. The top 5 artists feature two powerhouse K-pop groups.
BTS tops South Korea's most streamed songs of the year with their hits "Butter" and "Permission to Dance" sitting at the top spots. Justin Bieber's song "Peaches" hit number 3, and BTS claimed the number 4 spot with "Dynamite" followed by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber's single "STAY".
South Korea's Spotify Wrapped of 2021, definitely demonstrates the major impact of K-Pop music and their top artist, BTS.
For my last Spotify Wrapped 2021 rundown, I will be talking about our neighbors from across the pond, the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom obviously has excellent music taste, they gave us the Beatles, One Direction, Elton John, Queen, the Rolling Stones and so many more amazing artists.
Diving into their Spotify Wrapped for 2021, Drake once again precedes Taylor Swift as the number one streamed artist. Following these two in the top five are Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, and Juice WRLD.
Just like in the United States, her songs "good 4 u" and "drivers license" take the top two spots for most streamed songs of the year. And her album SOUR takes the number one spot for most streamed album of the year.
Spotify has demonstrated their success and creativity through this feature which allows listeners to discover the top artists, songs, and albums of the year in a global and national standpoint as well as a personal one.
While some countries may be similar in their overall music selections, the obvious distinctions and genre choices showcase the cultural differences and similarities across the globe.
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