Spotify Wrapped 2021: The 5 top songs, artists and albums of the year

Spotify Wrapped allows music fans to see their most-played songs, artists and albums on the streaming service

Spotify has released its eagerly awaited statistics that unveil the most-streamed albums, songs and artists of the past year.

Spotify Wrapped 2021, launched today (1 December), informs individual users about their listening habits as well as the overall trends that dominated the streaming platform over the last 12 months.

Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny emerged as the most-streamed global artist of 2021, achieving more than 9.1 billion streams. This comes after he became the most-decorated artist at the 2021 Billboard Latin Music Awards, receiving 10 gongs including Artist of the Year. He also featured on the single “Volví”, by Dominican-American band Aventura, in August; he released “Lo Siento BB:/” with Tainy and Julieta Venegas in October. At the Latin Grammy Awards in November, he received prizes for Best Urban Music Album (El Último Tour Del Mundo) and Best Rap/Hip Hop Song (for his January single “Booker T”).

Taylor Swift’s two re-recorded albums, Fearless and Red, helped her become the second most-streamed artist of the year. She is followed by K-pop titans BTS, Canadian artist Drake, and pop star Justin Bieber, who released his sixth studio album, Justice, in March.

The most-streamed songs were dominated by relatively new blood, including Olivia Rodrigo with her debut single – the understated power ballad, “drivers license” – which was played more than 1.1 billion times this year following its release in January. This was followed up by Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”, from his debut album, Montero. Justin Bieber teamed up with newcomer The Kid LAROI for their viral hit “STAY”, making it to No 3 on the most-streamed songs of the year, followed by another of Rodrigo’s songs, the kiss-off track “Good 4 U”. Dua Lipa’s single “Levitating” ft DaBaby rounded off the top five – Lipa condemned the rapper in July after he made a series of homophobic comments about people living with AIDS and HIV during Rolling Loud Festival.

Spotify’s biggest albums of the year included two British acts: Lipa and Ed Sheeran. Coming in at No 1 was Rodrigo’s debut Sour, followed by Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, Justin Bieber’s Justice, Sheeran’s fourth album = (Equals) and US rapper Doja Cat’s Planet Her.

A statement from Spotify said: “If 2020 was the year that flipped the world on its head, 2021 was the year that we got used to seeing things upside down. With ‘normal’ thrown out the window, we embraced the unknown and championed all of the things that make each of us unique. Spotify’s 2021 Wrapped is a celebration of this – the millions of weird and wonderful ways to listen and live in a world that continues to keep us on our toes.”

See the lists of the top albums, artists and songs of the year on Spotify below:

Most Streamed Artists Globally

Bad Bunny at the 2021 Billboard Latin Music Awards (AP)

1. Bad Bunny
2. Taylor Swift
3. BTS
4. Drake
5. Justin Bieber

Most Streamed Songs Globally

Olivia Rodrigo performing onstage during the 2021 American Music Awards. (Getty Images for MRC)

1. “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo
2. “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” by Lil Nas X
3. “Stay” by The Kid LAROI with Justin Bieber
4. “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo
5. “Levitating” by Dua Lipa feat. DaBaby

Most Streamed Albums Globally

(Getty Images for dcp)

1. SOUR, Olivia Rodrigo
2. Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa
3. Justice, Justin Bieber
4. =, Ed Sheeran
5. Planet Her, Doja Cat

Find out how to see your Spotify Wrapped 2021 here.