Drake is Spotify's most-streamed artist of 2016
- Published
Drake has been named Spotify's most-streamed artist of 2016, with his single One Dance the site's biggest song of the year.
The Canadian star racked up 4.7 billion streams this year, more than half of which were for his album Views.
That's despite the album being withheld from Spotify for two weeks as part of a deal with Apple Music.
One Dance alone was streamed 960 million times. Played consecutively, that would take more than 5,200 years.
The song's popularity on streaming services - including Deezer and Google Play as well as Spotify and Apple - helped it spend 15 weeks on top of the official UK singles chart, the longest run since Bryan Adams Everything I Do (I Do It For You) in 1991.
It is now Spotify's most-streamed song of all time, earning Drake and his co-writers an estimated $4.8m (£3.9m) in royalties.
Rihanna - who counts Drake as a collaborator and boyfriend - was Spotify's most-streamed female artist of 2016, while former One Direction star Zayn Malik was the biggest new act of the year.
David Bowie became the most listened-to "alternative" artist, following his death in January. The Beatles, who only released their albums to streaming services last December, quickly became the biggest classic rock act.
Spotify's most-streamed 2016
Most streamed artists in the UK
Drake
Justin Bieber
Rihanna
Kanye West
Coldplay
Most streamed artists worldwide
Drake
Justin Bieber
Rihanna
Twenty One Pilots
Kanye West
Most streamed female artists in the UK
Rihanna
Sia
Adele
Ariana Grande
Beyonce
Most streamed male artists in the UK
Drake
Justin Bieber
Kanye West
Coldplay
Twenty One Pilots
Top five breakout artists (global)
Zayn
Frenship
Anne-Marie
Madeintyo
Rob $tone
Most streamed tracks in the UK
One Dance (feat WizKid and Kyla) - Drake
Cheap Thrills - Sia
I Took A Pill in Ibiza (Seeb remix) - Mike Posner
7 Years - Lukas Graham
This Is What You Came For - Calvin Harris
Most streamed tracks worldwide
One Dance (feat WizKid and Kyla) - Drake
I Took A Pill in Ibiza (Seeb remix) - Mike Posner
Don't Let Me Down (feat Daya) - The Chainsmokers
Work (feat Drake) - Rihanna
Cheap Thrills - Sia
Most streamed albums (UK and worldwide are the same)
Views - Drake
Purpose - Justin Bieber
Anti - Rihanna
Blurryface - Twenty One Pilots
Beauty Behind The Madness - The Weeknd
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- Published29 July 2016
- Published29 July 2016
- Published22 July 2016