The most streamed artists of 2017 on Spotify revealed

Spotify reveals its 'Year in Music' featuring the most streamed albums, artists, groups, breakout artists and more.

little-mix-ed-sheeran-camila-1100.jpg

The most streamed artists of 2017 on Spotify have been revealed, with Ed Sheeran landing at the top of the list. 

Ed was the most played artist on the service globally this year; his third album ÷ - released in March - was the most streamed album worldwide this year with 3.1 billion plays, while Shape of You became the most streamed track on Spotify ever, now with over 1.4 billion streams. This year, the singer-songwriter averaged 47 million listeners every month. 

It's also been a landmark year for Latin music, with ten Latin songs appearing in Spotify's Global Top 50 list, led by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber's Despacito remix and J Balvin's Mi Gente. 

In the UK, there was huge growth for grime on the platform - Stormzy's Number 1 album Gang Signs and Prayer was the fourth most-listened to album, with 123,324,334 streams - only beaten by Ed, Drake's More Life and Starboy by The Weeknd. Meanwhile, Little Mix were the most played group.

It was also a strong year for rap in the UK, with Eminem finishing as the fourth most listened to artist, while Kendrick Lamar's DAMN is the sixth most streamed album. 

MORE: The UK's Official Top 40 biggest songs of 2017 so far

Elsewhere, Rihanna was the most streamed female artist for the third year in a row, and Camila Cabello was the most played 'breakout artist', ahead of former One Direction stars Harry Styles and Liam Payne.

The most streamed songs in the UK are revealed every Friday at 5.45pm here on OfficialCharts.com. View the latest Top 100.

Spotify’s UK Year in Music 2017

Top Five Artists in the UK

1. Ed Sheeran
2. Drake
3. Little Mix
4. Eminem
5. The Weeknd

Top Five Females in the UK

1. Dua Lipa
2. Rihanna
3. Ariana Grande
4. Taylor Swift
5. Beyoncé

Top Five Males in the UK

1. Ed Sheeran
2. Drake
3. Eminem
4. The Weeknd
5. Calvin Harris

Top Five Groups in the UK

1. Little Mix
2. Coldplay
3. The Chainsmokers
4. Arctic Monkeys
5. Imagine Dragons

Top Five Tracks in the UK

1. Shape of You - Ed Sheeran
2. Despacito - Remix - Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber
3. Castle on the Hill – Ed Sheeran
4. Unforgettable – French Montana
5. Galway Girl – Ed Sheeran

Top Five Albums in the UK

1. Divide - Ed Sheeran
2. More Life - Drake
3. Starboy - The Weeknd
4. Gang Signs & Prayer – Stormzy
5. X – Ed Sheeran

Most streamed UK artists worldwide

1. Ed Sheeran
2. Coldplay
3. Calvin Harris
4. Dua Lipa
5. ZAYN

Spotify’s Global Year in Music 2017

Most Streamed Artists

1. Ed Sheeran
2. Drake
3. The Weeknd
4. Kendrick Lamar
5. The Chainsmokers

Most Streamed Female Artists

1. Rihanna
2. Taylor Swift
3. Selena Gomez
4. Ariana Grande
5. Sia 

Most Streamed Male Artists

1. Ed Sheeran
2. Drake
3. The Weeknd
4. Kendrick Lamar
5. Daddy Yankee

Top Five Breakout Artists

1. Camila Cabello
2. Harry Styles
3. Liam Payne
4. Lil Pump
5. Trippie Redd 

Most Streamed Groups

1. Coldplay
2. Imagine Dragons
3. Maroon 5
4. Linkin Park
5. Migos 

Most Streamed Tracks

1. Shape of You - Ed Sheeran
2. Despacito - Remix - Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber
3. Despacito - Luis Fonsi feat. Daddy Yankee
4. Something Just Like This - The Chainsmokers & Coldplay
5. I’m the One - DJ Khaled feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne

Most Streamed Albums

1. Divide - Ed Sheeran
2. More Life - Drake
3. DAMN. - Kendrick Lamar
4. Starboy - The Weeknd
5. Stoney - Post Malone 

Related artists

Join the conversation by joining the Official Charts community and dropping comment.

Already registered?

Log in

No account?

Register

J

Jay

1

Where is the raw data on this? Because I find it really difficult to believe that Harry Styles is over Liam Payne and Niall Horan when their streams and monthly listeners are much higher...? I'd like to see the spotify numbers or else I'll just assume this is another bought for placement by the Azoffs.

avatar

Lilia Malisheva

1

Welcome to math. Harry Styles has the album. It has 615 mil.streams to date. + he has 2 songs from spotify session. All his 12 songs = 625 mil. streams. It is all from 2017. For all Liam Payne songs on spotify (including remixes) - 564 mil. streams.. Niall Horan is close, but most of This Town streams are from 2016. You can go and count it yourself if you have nothing else to do. Have a nice day.

J

Jay

1

I ended up counting out of sheer frustration that this category was listed absolutely nowhere on spotify, but thanks. I'm even more impressed with Liam's numbers since he doesn't even have an album out, and neither does Camila.

avatar

Lilia Malisheva

1

I'm impressed by Camila. She is doing amazing right now. Liam, of course, has a big hit too. totally. Harry is album seller. And has really good streams for non-singles. Basically, all his 10 tracks from the album had hit 23 mil. streams. I doubt that Liam, Camila, and Niall will have this even after a year. And of course, playlists on Spotify and genres are playing a big role in streaming numbers. But anyway, all of them did great this year.

J

Jay

1

You're talking to the wrong person; I consider Harry's success an abomination that has largely been bought. Harry "is an album seller" because he had an existing fanbase that he sold he forced his album on two extra times via ticket sales and let them preorder before anything was heard. He's a mediocre hack who produced failed Grammy bait. The only reason he's done this well is his fabricated hype and a fanbase where a lot of people have turned on him since. Niall has surpassed his streams already and the only reason he isn't on there is because he debuted last year, and to suggest his album streams won't do as well is honestly laughable when his album has just come out and he is growing his fanbase.

avatar

Lilia Malisheva

0

blah blah blah. your hate for Harry is something. Keep going. Maybe someday you will understand how stupid it is. But btw, Niall is doing awful with his album. Everywhere. The only thing that made him debut #1 in the US is tour. ticket+album. But he can't sell it right now. Poor boy. Have no idea what Capitol was thinking by booking that big arenas for him. And btw, the least streaming song on harry's album is having more weekly streams than 7 songs from Niall's album. And his album is 7 weeks old. Harry's is 30 weeks old. And , his album is discounted already. And Harry sold out his second tour after album release. When everyone heard his album. So stop making bitchy comments about him every time you see his name in articles.

avatar

Foxes

2

Great to see Camila as the most streamed breakthrough artist! She's managed to get in the Top 5 most streamed artists globally for the past few months without even having an album out (until January 12th 2018, of course)! Absolutely incredible.

avatar

Calum Pk7

3

:)