By: Mary Koch

On December 1, Spotify released their top 5 artists of 2021. Spotify has over 381 million listeners worldwide, so being on the list is a big accomplishment.

In 5th place was Justin Bieber with his album ‘Justice’ which he released on March 19, 2021. His song “Peaches” (feat. Daniel Caesar & Giveon) had 925,549,910 streams as of December 1, 2021, and it’s his 2nd most played song on Spotify. “Ghost”, which has 171,459,836 streams is his 3rd most played song.

Drake is in 4th place with his album, ‘Certified Lover Boy’, which was released September 3, 2021. The song “Way 2 Sexy” (with Future & Young Thug) is his most popular song from the album, and overall, with 218,472,596 streams. His top 4 songs are all from ‘Certified Lover Boy’ which is interesting because he only released the album 2 months ago.

BTS is in 3rd with their single “Butter”. The song has 677,160,366 streams, and it was released June 4, 2021. It’s their 2nd most played song after “My Universe” which was released September 24, 2021 and has 257,570,191 streams.

In 2nd place is Taylor Swift with her album ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ which was released on November 12, 2021. She redid songs from her album ‘Red’ from 2012, other albums, and new songs. “All Too Well” (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) is her most popular song on Spotify right now. It was released less than a month ago and already has 93,107,823 streams.

Finally, in 1st place for the second year in a row, is Bad Bunny. He had over 9.1 billion streams this year, and he didn’t even release a new album. His most popular song right now is “Lo Siento BB:/” (with Bad Bunny, Julieta Venegas, and Tainy) which has 136,924,017 streams.