It’s that time of year again: Spotify has crunched the numbers and released the data on the most-streamed artists, songs and albums on its platform throughout the year, as well as launching the annual Spotify Wrapped personalised results feature. The service has named the artists, songs and albums Australia streamed the most in 2022 – find the top-five lists below.
For the second year in a row, Taylor Swift has taken out the title of most-streamed artist on Spotify in Australia for 2022, despite only releasing most recent album ‘Midnights’ in October.
Swift’s latest quickly broke Australian chart records upon release, becoming the most-streamed album in a week in ARIA history and securing nine out of the top 10 spots on the ARIA Singles Chart in its first week. Behind Swift, Australia’s most-streamed artists throughout 2022, per Spotify Wrapped, were Drake, Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd and Kanye West.
Interestingly, despite the most-streamed artist honour, none of Swift’s tracks managed to crack the top five most-streamed songs in Australia this year. Coming in up top was Harry Styles’ ‘Harry’s House’ hit ‘As It Was’, with Glass Animals’ ‘Heat Waves’ – the triple j Hottest 100 2020 winner and a song so adored by Aussies the band got the country tattooed on their arses earlier this year – at number two.
‘STAY’, The Kid LAROI’s smash 2021 collab with Justin Bieber has continued to be one of the most popular songs in the country a year and a half after it was released, coming in at number three. Elton John’s ‘Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)’ with Dua Lipa was the fourth most-streamed song in Australia this year, and Jack Harlow’s ‘First Class’ rounded out the top five.
Styles also took out the number one spot on Spotify’s list of Australia’s most-streamed albums for 2022, with ‘Harry’s House’ leading the top five. The other four albums in the top five – ‘=’ by Ed Sheeran, The Kid LAROI’s ‘F*ck Love 3: Over You’, Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘SOUR’ and ‘Planet Her (Deluxe)’ by Doja Cat – were all released in 2021.
There’s a fair bit of crossover between this year’s list and 2021’s. Aside from Swift, last year’s top five most listened-to artists also included Drake and Sheeran at number three and four respectively. Last year’s most-streamed songs list had ‘Heat Waves’ at number two, and ‘STAY’ at number three – the same place it is in this year’s list. ‘=’ and ‘SOUR’ both appeared in last year’s most-streamed albums list as well.
While Swift was the most-streamed artist on Spotify in Australia this year, globally, she was – like last year – beaten out by Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny. Globally, this year’s most-streamed artists list included Drake at number three, The Weeknd at number four and BTS rounding out the top five.
The first half of Australia’s most-streamed songs list is identical to the global one – ’As It Was’, ‘Heat Waves’ and ‘STAY’ taking out the three spots – but, again, Bad Bunny made a much bigger splash globally than here in Australia. The rapper’s ‘Me Porto Bonito’ with Chenco Corleone and ‘Tití Me Preguntó’ were the fourth and fifth most-streamed songs globally in 2022.
The global most-streamed albums list was also relatively similar to Australia’s – with ‘Harry’s House’ coming in at two, ‘SOUR’ at three, ‘=’ at four and ‘Planet Her’ at five. The top most-streamed album globally was – you guessed it – Bad Bunny, with ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’.
Starting from today, if you’re an eligible Spotify user, you can also access your personalised 2022 Wrapped results via Spotify’s mobile iOS or Android app, as well as the 2022 Wrapped hub. You’ll be able to see your top artists, songs, albums, podcasts and genres for the year. There’s a new feature called Your Listening Personality which reveals what the music you listened to this year says about your taste, and a new personalised video feed with thank-you messages from your top artists of 2022.
The artists Australia streamed the most in 2022, according to Spotify Wrapped, are:
- Taylor Swift
- Drake
- Ed Sheeran
- The Weeknd
- Kanye West
The songs Australia streamed the most in 2022, according to Spotify Wrapped, are:
- ‘As It Was’ by Harry Styles
- ‘Heat Waves’ by Glass Animals
- ‘STAY’ (with Justin Bieber) by The Kid LAROI
- ‘Cold Heart – PNAU Remix’ by Elton John featuring Dua Lipa
- ‘First Class’ by Jack Harlow
The albums Australia streamed the most in 2022, according to Spotify Wrapped, are:
- ‘Harry’s House’ by Harry Styles
- ‘=’ by Ed Sheeran
- ‘F*CK LOVE 3+: OVER YOU’ by The Kid LAROI
- ‘SOUR’ by Olivia Rodrigo
- ‘Planet Her’ (Deluxe) by Doja Cat