Streaming services have had a huge cultural impact in Australia in the last two years, and perhaps none have made a bigger splash than Spotify.
Aussies have flocked to the Swedish-bred digital music platform since it officially launched Down Under on this day two years ago, enough to have streamed a combined 8,200 years’ worth of music in that same timeframe.
The staggering figure is just one of a series of accolades that the streaming service has boasted as part of its 2nd birthday celebrations, revealing a ream of interesting factoids about Australia’s streaming habits as the service announced overnight that it has now hit 10 million paying subscribers (across 56 territories) worldwide, and 40 million active users globally since its launch in 2008.
Though the exact number of active and paid users in Australia aren’t available, Spotify still doesn’t make a habit of revealing a breakdown of specific figures for local markets, it does now occupy over 71% of the local music streaming market, according to Nielsen statistics.
So who have Aussies been listening to the most with their accumulated 100 lifetimes’ worth of Spotify streaming? (Roughly the same length of time it would take to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge 1,000 times over or make 850,000 trips to the moon and back) Vance Joy’s Hottest 100-conquering ‘Riptide‘ is the most streamed local track ever on Spotify Australia.
The most listened to act is none other than Sydney superstar producer Flume, with Harley Streten edging both international talent (Eminem, Avicii, and Daft Punk) and fellow Aussies (Vance Joy, Matt Corby, Bliss N Eso, and The Temper Trap) to become the Most Streamed Artist on Spotify in Australia.
That’s chiefly thanks to Flume’s ARIA-scooping self-titled album topping the the Top 5 most streamed albums list, as well as three of his cuts – ‘Holdin’ On’, ‘On Top’, and his team-up with chilltronica buddy Chet Faker ‘Drop The Game’ – also landing in the Top 5 most streamed tracks by Aussie artists.
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The other two blue-eyed crooner Matt Corby’s ‘Resolution’ and Vance Joy’s Hottest 100-conquering ‘Riptide‘, which is the most streamed local track ever on Spotify Australia.
When you include tracks by international artists however, Flume loses out to the New Zealand sensation he recently remixed, Lorde, whose ‘Royals’ is the most streamed song by Aussies overall. Few surprises there, given that both achieved huge streaming numbers in Spotify in their 2013 results.
Some other interesting pick-ups from Spotify Australia’s 2nd Birthday infographic include:
- Australians have created over 27 million playlists since 2012, consisting of 300,000 ‘relaxation’ and 80,000 ‘zen’ mixes, 200,00 ‘workout’ playlists, and half-a-million dedicated to love and romance. (So we’re a nation of fully-buffed, loved-up vegans?)
- Victoria edges out New South Wales as the “most musically switched on state” in Australia (re: the most active), followed closely by Australian Capital Territory.
- Gotye has the distinction of having the most followers (1,885,918 to be precise) followed by former busker turned radio busting folkie Passenger and electro-popsters Empire of the Sun.
- Triple J’s tastemaking influence carries over to streaming, the youth station taking the honours of having the most subscribed-to playlist on the streaming service, with 149,484 followers of the Triple J Hitlist.
Take a look at the rest of Spotify’s intriguing Australian streaming stats in the full infographic below:
