For the second year in a row, Bad Bunny becomes the most-streamed artist on Spotify worldwide, despite not releasing a new album in 2021. With more than 9.1 billion streams this year, the Puerto Rican star beat out Taylor Swift, who came in at No. 2, followed by BTS, Drake and Justin Bieber, respectively.
Meanwhile, Olivia Rodrigo’s song “Driver's License” earned the most-streamed title with more than 1.1billion listens in the last 12 months. Rodrigo's breakup anthem became a cult classic this summer and even inspired the now popular sketch on Saturday Night Live where Pete Davidson and Bowen Yang belted out the hit while playing pool. That's not the only success Rodrigo saw— her track "Good 4 U" was the fourth most-streamed song of the year, and her album Sour was the most-streamed album in the world.
"When I played "Drivers License"' for the first time for my mom, she goes, 'The bridge is really weird. It's too much. It doesn't fit with the rest of the song,'" Rodrigo revealed in an interview earlier this year, talking about her hit song. "In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't take that to heart. She's very honest. It might not be anyone else's truth, but she says what's on her mind. But, I mean, obviously, she's my mom and would support me in whatever I did."
Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia, Justin Bieber's Justice, Ed Sheeran's =, and Doja Cat's Planet Her rounded out the top 5 albums of the year.
Here’s a breakdown of the most streamed music in 2021
Most Streamed Artists Globally
Bad Bunny
Taylor Swift
BTS
Drake
Justin Bieber
Most Streamed Songs Globally
"Drivers License" by Olivia Rodrigo
"Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" by Lil Nas X
"Stay" (with Justin Bieber) by The Kid LAROI
"Good 4 U" by Olivia Rodrigo
"Levitating" (feat. DaBaby) by Dua Lipa
Most Streamed Albums Globally
Sour, Olivia Rodrigo
Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa
Justice, Justin Bieber
=, Ed Sheeran
Planet Her, Doja Cat
