Spotify Reveals The Top Songs, Artists, Podcasts, and Listening Trends of 2023

FROM SPOTIFY

Musically, 2023 was defined by the return of major female pop stars, sonic diversity that topped the charts, and a global music atmosphere that gave rise to powerful genres. On the podcast front, creators are responding to trends in real time, and audiences are turning to podcasts to join larger cultural conversations. As always, our 2023 Spotify Wrapped campaign reflects these trends, and our toplists showcase how over 574 million people around the world listened this year.

Read on to learn more about the top artists, songs, albums, and podcasts of 2023, then take a look at the personalized Wrapped user experience that celebrates your own year in listening.

The top global artists of 2023

Reimagined rereleases, record-breaking world tours, and colorful friendship bracelets—fans everywhere will be thrilled to see Taylor Swift as this year’s top artist, with more than 26.1 billion global streams since January 1. In the 48 hours leading up to this crowning moment, Spotify revealed 21 puzzle pieces with Taylor Swift-themed easter eggs in billboards from Sao Paulo to Jakarta. These clues culminated in a spotlight video that included nods to her universe—featuring everything from cats to her infamous red lips. For a limited time, when you play one of her songs on Spotify, watch as the progress bar changes and sparkles to match the song’s era color.

Taking second place was reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny, who also had a standout year with a new album, nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana. Rounding up the top five were The Weeknd, Drake, and Peso Pluma.

The top global songs of 2023

The top song of the year, Miley Cyrus’s record-breaking “Flowers,” had incredible momentum from the day of its debut through the summer months and now counts more than 1.6 billion streams globally. In the second and third spots are “Kill Bill” by SZA and “As It Was” by Harry Styles. The fourth and fifth spots come from Jung Kook with “Seven (feat. Latto),” and Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma with “Ella Baila Sola.”

The top global albums of 2023

Listeners looked to the past in choosing which albums to play, as several of this year’s top-five albums were released prior to 2023. The most-streamed album of the year for the second year in a row was Un Verano Sin Ti by Bad Bunny, with more than 4.5 billion streams globally, followed by Taylor Swift’s album Midnights. SZA takes the third spot with SOS. And in the fourth and fifth spots are Starboy by The Weeknd and MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO by KAROL G.

The top global podcasts of 2023

Spotify is the most-used audio podcast platform in many key markets around the world and is also the number-one podcast publisher in the U.S., according to the most recent Edison Research data. And for the fourth time in a row, The Joe Rogan Experience takes the honor of top podcast of the year globally. In second place for the second year is Call Her Daddy, and in third, Huberman Lab, followed by anything goes with emma chamberlain and On Purpose with Jay Shetty. Eight of the top 25 podcasts on the global top lists are Spotify Owned & Licensed podcasts, and nine of the top 25 podcasts in the U.S. are as well.

Throughout the year, these podcasts, as well as many others, spotlighted top moments in pop culture, from music to movies to technology.

The spring and summer were full of girl- and women-powered media. The combinations of Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, and the success of the Barbie movie led to cultural conversations across many genres of podcasts about both economics and entertainment.

Throughout the year, the world was fascinated, frustrated, and sometimes frightened by the rise in AI. Podcasts offered a critical and nuanced take on the rising tech trend.

Catch the full year in podcast trends here.

The global trends that shaped our year

These most-streamed artists, songs, albums, and podcasts weren’t the only guideposts to 2023. Pop culture trends also fueled listening, from themed playlists to song spikes.

This year, Eurovision made a huge impact, as “Tattoo” by winner Loreen and “Cha Cha Cha” by runner-up Käärijä both reached the top 10 global daily chart the day after the final.

Gen Z continues to embrace the genreless/genre-hybrid trend, refusing to be defined by only one genre, and instead moving seamlessly between sounds. They also embrace moods, looking for playlists and songs that best describe the mood or moment they’re in.

This year also marked a significant surge in Colombian enthusiasm for Mexican music. Colombia emerged as the fifth-largest consumer of Mexican music in 2023, showcasing an 85% increase in its consumption over the year.

The consumption of Indian classical instrumental music continues to grow on Spotify in India and around the world. In the last 24 months, India’s classical music consumption grew by close to 500% on Spotify. Over 45% of Indian classical music listeners on Spotify are under the age of 25.

Afrobeats is one of the fastest-growing genres on Spotify, growing by 550% since 2017 with new audiences emerging in Mexico and India. In 2023, Rema’s “Calm Down” became the first Afrobeats artist-led track to hit a billion streams on Spotify.

Mandopop, with top artists like Jay Chou, JJ Lin, and Eason Chan, has received more than 500 million monthly streams globally, seeing an almost 45% increase in the past year.

Read on for a few notable trends that spiked throughout the year.

February

The Big Game and Valentine’s Day prompted huge increases in listening around moments that fans couldn’t help but love.