The #1 artist on Spotify changes frequently, but recently Bad Bunny was crowned Global Top Artist for 2025 by Spotify Newsroom, while The Weeknd often leads in monthly listeners (e.g., early 2026) with over 120 million, followed by artists like Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, and Bruno Mars, according to Kworb and ChartMasters. For the whole year 2024, Taylor Swift was the top global artist.
The following list contains the most-streamed artists on the audio streaming platform Spotify. As of December 2025, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is the most-streamed artist, and Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny is the most-streamed male artist in Spotify's history.
As of early January 2026, The Weeknd is generally considered #1 on Spotify for monthly listeners, but Taylor Swift is the most-streamed artist in Spotify's history and often leads overall popularity, with Bruno Mars recently hitting a historic 150 million monthly listeners. The #1 spot can change daily, but The Weeknd currently leads in recent monthly listeners, while Bad Bunny remains a top contender, and Taylor Swift dominates overall historical streams.
There's no single "number 1 artist of all time" as it's subjective, but Leonardo da Vinci often tops lists for visual art due to masterpieces like the Mona Lisa, while The Beatles are frequently cited as the best-selling music group ever, and Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley are often named as top solo music artists by sales and influence. Modern metrics like Spotify streams point to artists like Bad Bunny or Taylor Swift for recent dominance.
This year's Spotify Wrapped has been released, giving fans a personalised summary of their listening habits over the last year. The streaming giant said that Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny was the world's most-played artist of 2025, with more than 19.8 billion streams.
The answer is that when people are in the top 0.005% of all the listeners globally, they have listened to that song or artist more than 99.995% of all other Spotify users. Additionally, many users also ranked under the top 0.001% of all the listeners globally when they shared their top artists and songs.
There's no single "number 1" artist, as fame is subjective, but Leonardo da Vinci is widely considered the most famous for masterpieces like the Mona Lisa and his genius as a Renaissance man, while Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Michelangelo consistently rank among the most famous historical painters. In contemporary music, artists like Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny dominate current charts, showing fame varies by medium and era.
Art is a broad human activity using skill and imagination to create works (visual, auditory, performing) that express ideas, evoke emotions, or are appreciated for beauty, ranging from paintings and music to theater and literature, reflecting culture and individual vision across time. It's diverse, subjective, and encompasses activities from fine arts (painting, sculpture) to applied arts (design, crafts) and performing arts (music, dance, theater).
Most Popular Artists
Spotify holds a 32% global market share in music streaming with 713 million monthly users. Institutional investors own 67.8% of Spotify; founders Ek and Lorentzon control major voting power. Shares of Spotify can be bought through a brokerage account using market or limit orders.
The "number one artist" depends on the metric, but currently, Taylor Swift is often cited as the top global artist, leading in Spotify streams and Billboard rankings for overall artist performance, while The Weeknd often holds the top spot for most monthly listeners on Spotify. Bad Bunny remains dominant in global streams for previous years and holds top album status, with Drake and Billie Eilish also consistently high.
The Weeknd's 'Blinding Lights' Becomes First Song to Hit 5 Billion Streams on Spotify.
Taylor Swift had 26.6 billion streams on Spotify in 2024, making her the platform's top global artist for the second year in a row, driven by her Eras Tour and album releases like The Tortured Poets Department.
Rating of the best musicians of all time: 1. Michael Jackson 2. Elvis Presley 3. The Beatles 4.
Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoco, Rick Griffin, Wes Wilson, and Stanley Mouse, known collectively as The Big Five, were responsible for designing the majority of the best-known and iconic psychedelic posters in San Francisco during the 1960s.
Picasso was baptized as Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso (yes, you read that right!). Picasso has 23 names. A name as large as his genius.
The 3rd richest rapper varies slightly by source and date, but generally, after Jay-Z and often Kanye West or Dr. Dre, Sean "Diddy" Combs is consistently listed as the third wealthiest, with fortunes ranging from around $400-$600 million, driven by music, Bad Boy Records, Ciroc Vodka, and other ventures, despite recent legal challenges affecting his standing.
Most credit either British band Venom or the genre's so-called "Big Four": Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth, with commentators crediting Venom as the first thrash metal band and others tending to favor the "Big Four", though many give equal credit to all those five bands.
Who is the most successful artist of all time?
Super listeners are the driving beat behind your success
On average: They're a real powerhouse: Across all artist sizes, super listeners make up just 2% of an artist's monthly listeners but drive over 18% of monthly streams. They stream like stans: One super listener streams as much as 20 programmed listeners.
A good number of Spotify monthly listeners varies by genre, but typically, 1,000 to 10,000 indicates solid listener engagement. Popular artists often exceed 50,000, reflecting significant streaming trends and highlighting their broader appeal across audiences.
Bad Bunny is once again Spotify's Global Top Artist
Rounding out the top five artists are Taylor Swift in second place (but first in the U.S.), followed by The Weeknd (third), Drake (fourth), and Billie Eilish (fifth).