Ten years ago, on March 13, 2012, the history of Spotify Germany began. The streaming provider is now celebrating this milestone birthday under the motto “10 Is A Party” in “Spotify Wrapped” style and provides facts and figures on Spotify usage within Germany.
How the Germans use Spotify
“Being able to listen to your favorite music anytime, anywhere and completely legally was one of the main goals when Spotify was founded in 2006,” explains Michael Krause, who is responsible for Spotify Germany. The figures show that this goal was by no means missed: In the period between March 2012 and December 2021, music was streamed more than 450 billion times from Spotify.
More than 150,000 German-speaking artists are now represented on the platform, which means there was a 3.5-fold increase, which can be explained, among other things, by the success of German artists on Spotify. They were streamed abroad more than 920 billion times.
Another special feature of German users: they love podcasts. In three years, between 2017 and 2021, they spent 1.3 billion hours listening to their favorite podcasts. The classics “Fest & Fluffy” and “Mixed Mince” were particularly popular here.
German listeners love hip hop
With “Roller”, Apache 207 has the most streamed title among German listeners between 2012 and 2021. “Dance Monkey” by Tones And I takes second place, “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd takes third place. The rap weakness is also reflected in the results for the top artists in Germany: in 2012 it was Cro, 2013 Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, 2016 Drake and 2021 Bonez MC. The most streamed song of 2021 also comes from the genre: “Ohne Dich” by KASIMIR1441, badmómzjay and WILDBWOYS. The most streamed album of 2021 also remains in the same category with “AQUA” by Luciano. Despite the genre’s strong presence, pop remains listeners’ favorite genre of music.
In 2021, just like at the beginning of 2012, pop will take first place among the most streamed music styles. This is followed by hip-hop, followed by rock, and finally EDM and indie.
Playlists with “Vibe” for a “cozy evening”
Spotify also analyzed the titles of the playlists created by German users. In 10 years of Spotify, a total of 310 million playlists have been created, and those with the title “cozy evening” have become particularly popular over the past five years. Streams increased 400x. Also big: playlists with the words “vibe” and “anime” in the title. But “Coffee”, “Mood” or even “Karaoke” are also very popular.
In 2021, Spotify was heard the most in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. These are also the cities with the most inhabitants in Germany.
Spotify has significantly changed the German music industry within 10 years. Streaming is now an integral part of the music industry and, according to Spotify, accounts for two-thirds of total sales. Sales in 2021 amounted to 1.96 billion euros, an increase of 10 percent compared to the previous year.
On the microsite set up for the birthday you will find further data, visualizations and playlists.
For many artists, however, Spotify offers no reason to be happy. The earnings are – measured in terms of physical sales – negligible. Unknown bands couldn’t make a living from streams alone, but if fans only stream, musicians earn next to nothing. So, in many cases, streaming growth could also result in lost revenue.
Last month, Neil Young and other big-name artists called for a boycott of Spotify after a debate ignited over Joe Rogan’s podcast. Spotify responded by announcing future podcast warnings related to the coronavirus pandemic.
+++ This article first appeared on rollingstone.de +++