Taylor Swift sits atop Spotify's list of 2023's top-streamed recording acts, and the figures are staggering. When Swift's worldwide streams since Jan. 1 were tallied for Nov. 29's year-end Wrapped rundown, the count topped 26.1 billion. By comparison, 2022's top-streamed artist, Bad Bunny, compiled 18.5 billion streams that year.
Per Billboard's royalty calculator, 26.1 billion streams equals around $97 million in royalties. Billboard adds that when factoring in December projections for streams, "that number would swell to 27.2 billion, amounting to recorded music royalties of $101 million through the end of the year from Spotify alone. Add in publishing revenue, and Swift's music will have earned about $131 million on Spotify by the end of the year."
These figures only consider Spotify's numbers. Billboard estimates what when adding in streams from Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music and other popular services, the total number of Swift streams in 2023 jumps to 38.3 billion, bumping her potential revenue to nearly $200 million.
Swift posted a heartfelt statement to social media after being named the world's most popular Spotify artist for 2023.
"Um ok this is unreal?? I just wanted to say to anyone who listened to my music this year, anywhere in the world, thank you. Getting named Spotify's Global Top Artist in 2023 is truly the best birthday/holiday gift you could've given me," she wrote, "We've seriously had THE MOST fun this year out there on tour and now this. Are you serious."
To thank her global fanbase, Swift made the previously-rare track "You're Losing Me (From The Vault)" more readily available.
"So I was trying to think of a way to thank you, and a lot of you have been asking me to put 'You're Losing Me (From The Vault)' on streaming... so here you go! You can finally listen everywhere now," she wrote.
