There's no single "number 1" in music as it depends on the metric (streams, sales, charts, all-time), but currently, Taylor Swift leads streaming on {Apple Music}, while artists like Bad Bunny dominate Spotify's overall history, and classic acts like The Beatles & Michael Jackson often top "all-time" lists, showing different facets of music's top artists.
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.
There's no single "World No. 1 Singer" as it's subjective, but Michael Jackson (The King of Pop) is consistently ranked as the greatest entertainer and iconic singer of all time by many sources for his vocal control, performance, and influence, while Ariana Grande currently holds records for most monthly listeners on Spotify, and Taylor Swift leads the Billboard Artist 100 chart, showcasing current dominance.
The number one YouTube channel by subscriber count is MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), who surpassed Indian music network T-Series in early 2025 and now leads with over 450 million subscribers, known for massive stunts, giveaways, and philanthropy. T-Series remains a strong second, followed by children's content creators like Cocomelon, making MrBeast the top individual creator on the platform, according to data from late 2025 and early 2026.
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.
The #1 trending song today varies slightly by platform, but "Die With A Smile" by Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars is huge globally and on pop charts, while "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean is a top hit in Australia, and "End of Beginning" by Djo is #1 on Spotify's global chart, showing different popular tracks across charts.
“Gangnam Style” by South Korean musician PSY became the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views. By the end of 2012, the song had topped music charts in more than 30 countries around the world. #song4theweekend #PSY #GangnamStyle #musichistory #music.
They explain, "Taylor isn't just popular — she's engineered an entirely new era of fan-driven music culture," adding, "More people may know who she is now, but Michael Jackson is still bigger in cultural footprint."
Progression of most weeks at number one
Songs that tied the current record at a given time are noted below the table. The current record holder is "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey at 22 weeks, and the longest record held is "One Sweet Day" by Carey and Boyz II Men with 8,554 days. Ref.
The Top 5 Most Popular Artists of 2025
It became a global phenomenon, clocking up more than 16 billion views - YouTube's most watched video ever. That song was the incredibly catchy Baby Shark.
The richest YouTuber in the world is Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, with estimated net worths ranging from $500 million to over $1 billion and reported earnings exceeding $700 million in 2025, thanks to his massive YouTube presence, business ventures like Feastables, and ventures such as Beast Games on Amazon Prime. He leads a list of high earners that includes Jeffree Star, Logan Paul, and Anastasia Radzinskaya (Like Nastya), who also generate significant wealth from branding, merchandise, and other entertainment projects.
TL;DR: MrBeast is the most-subscribed YouTube channel in 2026, while T-Series is the most-viewed channel. Other popular channels include Cocomelon, SET India, and Kids Diana Show.
The Minecraft community has crushed one trillion views on YouTube. Celebrate this huge milestone with a look back at some of the biggest moments in Minecraft history.
The number one streamed song of all time, primarily on Spotify, is "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd, having surpassed 5 billion streams and holding the top spot over other massive hits like Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and The Weeknd's "Starboy".
1 billion YouTube views can earn anywhere from a few thousand dollars (for Shorts) to several million (for long-form videos), with estimates often falling between $250,000 and $5 million, heavily depending on the Cost Per Mille (CPM) and viewer engagement, with gaming/music potentially earning $0.50-$1/1000 views and high-engagement content seeing higher rates. The wide range is due to factors like viewer location, ad types, video niche, and if it's a YouTube Short (which pays much less) versus longer content.
“End Of Beginning” by Djo remains at #1 on the Spotify global chart with 8.81 million streams.
1s on each ranking (through charts dated Oct. 18, 2025), The Beatles, thus, claim the most leaders on the lists combined: 39, via 20 No. 1s on the Hot 100 and 19 on the Billboard 200.