Bad Bunny sings only in Spanish and has collaborated with less than a handful of mainstream, English-speaking artists. And yet, he is Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2020, with 8.3 billion streams, and his album “YHLQMDLG” is the most-streamed album globally on the service, with over 3.3 billion streams.
Juice WRLD beat out Drake, Post Malone, Lil Uzi Vert and Taylor Swift for the top U.S. honor. Following his tragic death in 2019, Juice WRLD went on to be Spotify’s most-streamed artist in the United States for 2020. Drake was the most popular artist in the UK, reclaiming the number one position from Ed Sheeran. The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights was the most-played song in the UK.
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It’s difficult to overstate the importance of Bad Bunny’s achievement. Latin music is increasingly visible worldwide, high-profile collaborations between Latin and non-Latin acts have popped up throughout the year, and Latin names regularly top YouTube’s global charts. On Spotify, J Balvin has placed among the top 5 most-streamed artists on the service since 2018.
In 2019, Spotify bet big on podcasts and it continued to do so in 2020. This year, future Spotify exclusive show The Joe Rogan Experience is the most popular podcast globally. That’s a great sign considering Spotify signed a deal with Joe Rogan worth over $100 million. TED Talks Daily, The New York Times’ The Daily, The Michelle Obama Podcast and Barstool Sports’ Call Her Daddy also make up Spotify’s year-end top five.