There were so many huge albums to come out of 2024 in all genres of music. Which rose above all the others to be streamed the most? That’s what this post will attempt to do. I say attempt because it’s difficult to pull exact and accurate numbers for a streaming platform like this where the number is always increasing, even as I type this sentence. To give some peace of mind for folks who like exact numbers, I put this together right around 2024 Spotify Wrapped (early December).
There are a lot of fascinating stats to look at when it comes to music streamed in 2024. Since streaming music has been the most popular way of listening to music since the mid 2010s, the streaming numbers can say more than album sales (although album sales in this day and age also shows a dedication to an artist but we’re not here to get into all that). To show how a variety of genres faired, this will not only include the ultimate top albums streamed, but also a breakdown by genre. This would not be possible without websites like Variety given real numbers to display for these stats. Enjoy!
Top Albums (Global)
10. Starboy – The Weekend
9. Fireworks and Rollerblades – Benson Boone
8. Lover – Taylor Swift
7. SOS - SZA
6. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift
5. Eternal Sunshine – Ariana Grande
4. Mañana Será Bonito – Karol G
3. Short N’ Sweet – Sabrina Carpenter
2. Hit Me Hard and Soft – Billie Eilish
1. The Tortured Poets Department – Taylor Swift
Top Songs (Global)
10. “Die with a Smile” - Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga
9. “Cruel Summer” - Taylor Swift
8. “One of the Girls” - The Weeknd, Jennie, Lily-Rose Depp
7. “Too Sweet” - Hozier
6. “End of Beginning” - Djo
5. “Lose Control” - Teddy Swims
4. Gata Only” - FloyyMenor
3. Birds of a Feather – Billie Eilish
2. Beautiful Things – Benson Boone
1. Espresso – Sabrina Carpenter
Some stats about the top global songs and albums...
-With over 26.6 billion streams, The Tortured Poets Department from Taylor Swift takes the #1 spot while also achieving other mind-boggling stats along the way including...
- The first album to have over 300 million streams in one day
- Crossing a billion streams within its first week (Source). This milestone was called before the full week was even up too.
- As of early December, Eilish’s 2024 album has over 4.6 billion streams.
- Although The Weeknd’s album Starboy has more total streams than some others on the list (14 billion), it is spread throughout 18 tracks and 8 years given that it came out in 2016. This makes it the oldest album in the global top 10.
- In just over 3 months, “Die with a Smile” reached 1.1 billion streams
Global “Mapped Wrapped” Stats
-Sabrina Carpenter’s song “Espresso” is the #1 song in Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Vancouver (Canada), and Toronto (Canada). It makes it into the top 5 in Australia, New Zealand, The UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Saudi.
- Benson Boone’s song “Beautiful Things” made it in the top 5 in Belgium, Germany, France, The UK, Sweden, South Africa, Ottawa (Canada) Toronto (Canada), and The Netherlands. He holds the #1 spot in Australia, New Zealand, Québec, Montreal, and Vancouver (last 3 all in Canada).
- Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” makes it into the top 5 in Malaysia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Saudi, Toronto (Canada), and Vancouver (Canada).
- Kendrik Lamar’s “Not Like Us” is the #1 song in Ethiopia and makes it into the top 5 of Botswana and South Africa.
- “Die With a Smile” by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga is the #1 song most frequently shared from Spotify to social platforms, according to Spotify.
Top Albums (USA)
10. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift
9. Zach Bryan – Zach Bryan
8. Dangerous: The Double Album – Morgan Wallen
7. SOS - SZA
6. HIT ME HARD AND SOFT – Billie Eilish
5. The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Chappell Roan
4. Stick Season – Noah Kahan
3. Short N Sweet – Sabrina Carpenter
2. One Thing at a Time – Morgan Wallen
1. The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology – Taylor Swift
Top Tracks (USA)
10. “Stick Season” - Noah Kahan
9. “I Remember Everything” - Zach Bryan, Kacey Musgraves
8. “Birds of a Feather” - Billie Eilish
7. “Beautiful Things” - Benson Boone
6. “Good Luck, Babe” - Chappell Roan
5. Million Dollar Baby – Tommy Richman
4. “I Had Some Help” - Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen
3. A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey
2. Not Like Us – Kendrick Lamar
1. Espresso – Sabrina Carpenter
Other fun stats about the top USA tracks and albums...
Who has the most tracks in the top 50?
Morgan Wallen – 4 songs + 1 feature
Sabrina Carpenter – 4 songs
Chappell Roan – 3 songs
Taylor Swift – 3 songs
The oldest song on the top 50 is... “Sweater Weather” - The Neighborhood which came out in 2013.
The oldest album in the top 10 is Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album which came out in 2021.
About 20% of the top 50 fall into the hip hop/rap category
About 28% of the top 50 fall under the country or folk category
Looking at Mapped Wrapped for the US...
Note: The map only includes the top 5 of 20 cities
Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” is #1 in Seattle, San Franscisco, San Diego, Houston, Chicago, New York City. New York City is the only city that features two Carpenter songs (it also includes “Please Please Please”).
Sabrina Carpenter appears in the top 5 in Portland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, New Orleans, Atlanta, Charlotte, Asheville, Nashville, and Milwaukee. This means of the 20 cities represented, “Espresso” appears in 15 of the 20’s Top 5 lists.
“Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan is #1 in Portland and makes it into the top 5 in every other city represented on the west coast (San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Seattle) along with Houston, Asheville, Chicago, and New York City.
“Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar makes it in the top 5 of every city on the west coast (see the above list plus Portland), Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York City. “Not Like Us” hits #1 in Phoenix and Detroit. “Not Like Us” also makes it into the top 5 in 15 out of the 20 represented cities.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey is #1 in Minneapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Denver.
There are a lot of interesting insights to come out of this year along with some interesting trends. We saw the rise of the female pop star once more in artists such as Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan who absolutely blew up in popularity. We saw a number of artists dabble in country music from Lana Del Rey to Beyonce to Post Malone. What will make it big in 2025? What will take the place of brat summer and the Hot to Go dance? Will anything be able to surpass them? Only time will tell, but we can’t wait to see what the next year of music brings.
Special thanks to the following sources that helped me put this blog together...
Written by Kristen Petronio
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