The most popular topics are crime-and-mystery podcasts, such as “ My Favorite Murder ,” “ Crime Junkie ,” and “ Crimetown. Listeners have enjoyed top podcasts like “ The Joe Budden Podcast, ” as well as “ Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith ” and Spotify’s “ Dissect ,” which offers a deep-dive analysis of popular music albums. In 2018, we also added more podcasts to our growing selection, bringing the total episodes available to almost 7 million. The genre is making its mark in playlists, with both ¡Viva Latino! and Baila Reggaeton finishing the year as Spotify’s third-and fourth-most-followed playlists.

Dominican-American singer Cardi B, the third-most-streamed female artist of 2018, and Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello, the fifth-most-streamed, are also representing their Latin heritage through music. This year, three Latin artists-J Balvin, Ozuna and Bad Bunny-landed on the top-10 most-streamed artists list, while last year, Daddy Yankee was the only Spanish-speaking artist to reach the top 10. Hip-hop dominated Spotify’s charts in 2018, but Latin music continued its rapid growth. She dropped major hits throughout the year, including her fourth album, “Sweetener” and her latest single “thank u, next” (over 220 million streams).

Ariana Grande ’s 48 million plus monthly listeners raised her to the position of Spotify’s most-streamed female artist, following in the footsteps of three-time winner Rihanna. Outside of the reigning favorites, some chart-breaking stars also reached the top. His album “Scorpion” and song “God’s Plan” took the top slots in their categories-with “God’s Plan” bringing in more than 1 billion streams. With 8.2 billion streams in 2018 alone, the Canadian rapper is now our most-streamed artist of all time. Music lovers continued with some existing favorites, such as 20’s most-streamed artist, Drake, who took home the crown once again this year. So, what did the world listen to in 2018?

Now, we’re looking back to determine the music and audio trends that defined the year. All throughout the year, our users have streamed countless hours of their favorite songs, artists, playlists, and podcasts. 2018 is winding down, but on Spotify, the music is playing as loudly as ever.

Spotify for artists wrapped 2018