The most-streamed artists on Spotify in 2019

Post Malone stands atop the list of the most-streamed artists of 2019. Who said you can’t have success when you have face tattoos? The singer and rapper broke through first in 2015, before he even turned 20, and took things to a new level in 2018. Evidently the success of “Beerbongs and Bentleys” carried over into 2019.

Eilish is the newest star in the world of pop music, taking it by storm in 2019, including winning several Grammys. Eilish also sang the theme song for the new James Bond movie, “No Time to Die,” and she performed at the Oscars as well.

Grande has had a couple of big years. She released her album “Sweetener” in 2018 and just a few months later dropped “thank u, next,” which topped the charts in 2019. She’s an all-time Spotify favorite, and that doesn’t seem likely to stop anytime soon.

Sheeran is steady as it goes. It never feels like he’s at the forefront of the zeitgeist, but his fans absolutely adore him. He’s regularly one of the most-streamed artists in Spotify history, and clearly that hasn’t changed. Plus, he got to be in an episode of “Game of Thrones” once, which was probably cool for him.

If you aren’t into reggaeton, you might not know Bad Bunny’s name. However, there is a passionate fan base for the genre, even if it isn’t as big as others. If you are into reggaeton, you’re probably really into it, and clearly Bad Bunny is the top guy in that area right now.

Talk about finding success right out of the game. Khalid’s debut single, “Location,” went platinum four times over. That was back in 2016, and since then his stardom has only grown. His 2019 album, “Free Spirit,” surely got a ton of digital spins last year.

We’re back with another reggaeton artist. J Balvin was arguably the first guy in that genre to break through. A couple of years ago, there was one month where he was the most-streamed artist on Spotify. He didn’t reach those rights in 2019, but he’s clearly still quite popular.

Drake is the king of Spotify. By that we mean he is the all-time most-streamed artist on the platform. Clearly, 2019 wasn’t his best year, but he’ll be just fine. After all, the Raptors won the NBA title in 2019, so it was still a great year for him.

Some have called Ozuna “the new king of reggaeton.” Considering all these artists are fairly new to many of us, we can’t tell you who the original king was. What we can tell you is that he has the most YouTube videos, with over a billion views. Take that, Justin Bieber!

This one is a little awkward. XXXTENTACION did not live to see his success in 2019, as he was killed in a homicide in 2018 at the age of 20. On the other hand, in his short life the rapper had a ton run-ins with the law, including some truly ugly stuff. It can be hard to separate the art from the artist, but some people will still listen to XXXTENTACION in 2019, perhaps in memory of his brief career.

We’re going to guess that the former king of reggaeton is Daddy Yankee. After all, the Puerto Rican artist evidently coined the term back in 1994. You may remember him from the song “Despacito,” which stormed the charts a couple of years ago and became the first No. 1 single in Spanish since “Macarena.”

There are a lot of popular Puerto Rican rappers and reggaeton artists in the world of Spotify. Maybe people like to use it to soundtrack parties. Anuel AA is yet another artist from that world. So far, reggaeton is well-covered on this list.

Back in the day, Swift famously pulled her music from Spotify. No longer the most popular artist in the world, and also with the way the music world works now, Swift can’t really get away with shenanigans like that. Her last two albums have been disappointing by her admittedly lofty standards, but she still was one of the most popular artists in 2019.

Talk about a modern success story. Mendes rose to fame in 2013 posting covers on Vine. He dropped his first album in 2015, which is impressive given that he’s only 21. The singer-songwriter has released three albums, all of which have hit No. 1. He’s one of only five artists to ever top the Billboard 200 album charts before turning 18.

Yes, that’s right. Queen, the classic rock band, was one of the 20 most-streamed artists in 2019. To be fair, the band has a ton of hits, but we also guess that the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” was a factor. First it was “Wayne’s World,” then it was the Freddie Mercury biopic. Every 30 years or so, the world of cinema brings Queen back into our lives.

At this point, in the world of music at least, Eminem might as well be Queen. He first broke out way back in 1999, at the time of Napster and years before Spotify was even a thing. While he’s no longer as popular as he was in his peak, Eminem is still a hip-hop legend, which is how he still gets this many streams. Having released new albums in both 2017 and 2018 probably helped as well.

Here we have another young rapper who died far too soon. Juice WRLD died in December from what was effectively an overdose of oxycodone and codeine. At the time of his death he was only 21, which may have led to more streams at the end of the year from mourning fans.

K Pop, aka Korean pop, is a niche in America, and what a beloved niche it is. BTS is huge in Korea, obviously, but there are fervent followers of K Pop, and BTS in particular, in the United States as well, and those huge fans are surely giving the band dozens of listens day in and day out.

The year 2018 was a bit better for Scott, as his song “Sicko Mode” was immensely popular. In fact, it won “Top Streaming Song” at the Billboard Music Awards. A lot of his listens in 2019 were, honestly, probably people who were still spinning “Sicko Mode,” even though the song came out in August of 2018.

Rock music isn’t that popular these days, as this list clearly shows. In fact, Imagine Dragons is the first contemporary rock band on the list...behind Queen! Imagine Dragons’ hit songs are often used to soundtrack sporting events, which keeps the band in the zeitgeist. If you watch sports, you’ve heard “Radioactive,” whether you wanted to or not.

Cabello and her significant other, Shawn Mendes, both made this list. That’s fitting given that they collaborated on the incredibly popular 2019 song “Senorita.” It was a No. 1 hit and surely got both of these artists plenty of streams on Spotify.

Apparently Marshmello is currently the king of the DJs. Calvin Harris isn’t on this list. Neither is Skrillex or Deadmau5. Marshmello is the only DJ on this top 25, even though people streaming his music can’t enjoy seeing him with his weird marshmallow mask on.

Farruko is another reggaeton-adjacent artist and a former collaborator with Danny Yankee. He had two different albums come out in 2019, which is not surprising given that he has been quite prolific in his career. He also ties back to a slightly different era of the internet, as he first rose to fame on MySpace.

Billie Eilish is following in the shoes of Smith in one way. It’s Smith who sang the theme song to “Spectre,” the Bond film prior to “No Time to Die.” The year 2020 might be even better for Smith, given that he has a new album, “To Die For,” coming out, his first since 2017.

We finish with Halsey. Being the 25th most-streamed artist for a year isn’t too shabby, to be fair, as literally thousands of musicians are out there making music. We predict Halsey is going to finish higher on the list in 2020. She dropped her first album since 2017, “Manic,” in January. That means Spotify listeners will have all year to stream it.