The Most-Streamed Music On Spotify In 2023
At the end of each year, our socials are filled with everybody and their mom dropping their "Spotify Wrapped" lists. Maybe you’re in the top 0.005 percent of Taylor Swift fans, or perhaps you’ve streamed 25,000 minutes of Call Her Daddy. Whatever the case, these in-depth stats reveal what your taste in music in 2023 says about you. But while each list is incredibly personal, Spotify has also dropped the top tracks, artists, albums, and podcasts globally. The results tell us everything we need to know about 2023 in pop culture.
THE TOP 10 GLOBAL ARTISTS OF 2023
Spotify's streaming data gives us a glimpse into global pop culture trends that pure sales-driven data never could. By combing through their metrics, Spotify can tell us some pretty cool things, like the fact that Gen Z isn’t as limited to one genre of music as other generations are; they’re much more likely to move between different genres or create their own blends.
Similarly, Spotify tells us that Colombians became "the fifth-largest consumer of Mexican music in 2023," while Afrobeats became "one of the fastest-growing genres on Spotify." Big events such as the Eurovision or the Eras tour can dramatically influence how an artist performs over the year, too. So which perfromers made the biggest impact on a global scale in 2023?
10. Lana Del Rey
In many ways, 2023 was the year of the "girl," with trends like "girl math" and "girl dinner" taking the internet by storm. And it was also the year of Lana Del Rey. In July millions of people created and watched videos that jumped on the TikTok "girl dinner" bandwagon — and people even turned to Spotify to capitalize on the trend. This resulted in 10,000 "girl dinner" playlists on Spotify. Two songs that featured heavily in these playlists were "Cherry" and "Peppers" by Del Rey.
Did this help her become one of the most listened-to artists in 2023? Perhaps. "Cherry" and "Peppers" have more than 334 million listens between them. But Del Rey's 2023 album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, and subsequent tour probably have something to do with it, too.
9. Karol G
There's no big secret to the success of Karol G on the Spotify Wrapped chart. The Colombian is a hugely influential star, and her fourth album, Mañana Será Bonito, was a sensation when it was released in 2023. It went straight to number one on the Billboard 200 all-genre chart.
This was the first time this had ever happened for a female artist with a Spanish-language album. That crossover success was bolstered by a tour and an incredible performance at the VMAs. Her most popular song on Spotify is 2023's "PROVENZA," which has more than a billion streams.
8. SZA
SZA is everywhere in the Spotify Wrapped rankings. You'll also see appearances from the American singer-songwriter (real name Solána Imani Rowe) in the most-streamed songs and the most-streamed albums lists. That's probably why she took the time to thank her top fans with a video message.
"Whether you streamed me all day or once, this year changed my life," SZA said in her message. 2023 saw her chart-topping album, SOS, continue to do business and her single "Kill Bill" become a number-one sensation. She topped it all off with a tour, too.