Bad Bunny is Spotify's most streamed artist for a third consecutive year
The Puerto Rican urbano savant generated 18.5 billion streams for Spotify this year
Spotify Wrapped season tends to be a polarized time online: between Apple Music and Spotify users, between Gilla Band and Glee Cast lovers, between those proud to display their 2022 listening habits and those who would rather keep their membership in the top 4% of Drake listeners to themselves. But as the streamer releases its end-of-year numbers, one unifying truth remains constant: Bad Bunny is still Spotify’s most-streamed artist of the year.
This marks the third consecutive year the Puerto Rican rapper has held the title. Per Spotify, Bad Bunny generated 18.5 billion streams for the platform this year—his 2022 album Un Verano Sin Ti was also Spotify’s No. 1 most-streamed album worldwide this year.
Beyond being one of the most popular albums of the year, Un Verano Sin Ti garnered critical acclaim as well and could catapult Bad Bunny to a history-making Grammy win in 2023. Un Verano Sin Ti is the first album completely in Spanish to be nominated for Album of the Year at the awards, and Bad Bunny also nabbed nominations for Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Musica Urbana album.
Taylor Swift follows closely behind Bad Bunny in streaming numbers, a spot she last occupied in 2021 (Drake, The Weeknd, and BTS round out the top five). Despite its October release, Swift’s highly-anticipated tenth album Midnights managed to become the fourth most-streamed album on the platform this year. Unsurprisingly, Swift is also Spotify’s most-viral artist of the year, an accolade that means she’s the artist whose music most often gets shared from Spotify to social media.
In the song department, lover-of-movies-that-are-like-movies Harry Styles had the most-streamed track with Harry’s House single “As It Was.” The second spot belonged to Glass Animals’ “Heat Wave,” and the third (for a second year in a row) to “Stay (with Justin Bieber)” by the Kid Laroi. Bad Bunny’s tracks “Me Porto Bonito” and “Tití Me Preguntó” were the fourth and fifth most streamed of the year.