Report: “Young” Musicians Rule Spotify, Radio Prefers ''Veterans''

05 August 2021 - Press release

A recent analysis suggests that streaming creates hype, while radio drives long-term engagement

Right now, there are thousands of radio stations delivering music to every corner of the world, and around 4B Spotify playlists ready to be discovered and enjoyed. But when it comes to the artists and genres being played, just how different are streaming and radio? 

Music research and analytics platform Viberate has analysed the 100 most-streamed artists on Spotify in June 2021 and compared the results to the 100 artists with the most radio airplay in that same timeframe. Here are some of the findings.

Streaming prefers “junior” artists with careers under 15 years. While radio is friendlier to more established artists (64 % of the 100 most-spinned artists have been in the business longer than 15 years), a whopping 80 % of the 100 most-streamed musicians have emerged in recent years.

Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny and Rauw Alejandro were among the most-streamed artists on Spotify in June, while Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd claimed the top 3 radio spins worldwide.

Pop rules radio, while Hip Hop dominates streaming. Pop and Rock represented 75 % of all radio spins worldwide (Pop alone had 42 %), and Electronic took third place. On Spotify, Hip Hop amassed 38 % of the top 100 streams, followed by Pop (27 %) and Latin (18 %). 

The five most-streamed artists each secured between 437M and 1B monthly streams, and their average monthly royalty payout was estimated at $687.5k. The 100 artists with the most radio airplay saw an average of 154k monthly radio spins, suggesting radio holds a role at the tail end of the consumption curve, encouraging long-term listenership and sales. 

More findings are available in the free report you can download here.