Spotify has released new data about the global success of Canadian artists for its 10-year anniversary, along with the soundtracks Canadians vibed with during the decade’s biggest moments.
Earlier this month, Spotify released the data which sheds light on Canadians’ listening habits and how Canadian artists are thriving on the music platform.
Toronto’s The Weeknd is one of, if not the most, successful Canadian singer in the last decade as his song “Blinding Lights” had over four billion streams worldwide from 2014-2024, representing the most streamed artist on the platform. Meanwhile, Drake has been Spotify’s most streamed artist of the year three times in the last decade.
Music lovers around the world listened to tracks by Canadian artists more than 300 billion times in the last decade on Spotify, and 20 Canadian artists have a total of 66 tracks that have broken more than one billion streams over the last 10 years.
Spotify adds that Canada is also the third largest music exporter in the world, and streams by women artists skyrocketed by a massive 1,475 per cent over the past decade in Canada, racking up more than 104 billion streams.
“By empowering artists to promote their music on Spotify, building dedicated Canadian and Québécois playlists, and launching groundbreaking new tools like Audiobooks, Daylist, DJ and AI Playlist, Spotify is proud to have supported Canada’s global success story— creating new ways for artists to connect with their fans,” Elizabeth Phipps, Spotify’s label partnerships lead, Canada, said in a statement.
Regionally, Toronto tops the list for the most listens overall between 2014-2024, followed by British Columbians. Meanwhile, music lovers in Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. gained an average of 45,000 unique tracks per person over the last decade, compared to 28,000 in Montreal, 22,000 in Toronto, 18,000 in Calgary and 11,000 in Ottawa.
CANADIAN ARTISTS’ GLOBAL SUCCESS
The music platform also compiled its “Global Impact List,” which tracks Canada’s most listened to songs as exports from Jan. 2024 to Oct. 2024. They include:
- JENNIE, Lily-Rose Depp, The Weeknd – One Of The Girls (with JENNIE, Lily-Rose Depp)
- Tate McRae – greedy
- Daft Punk, The Weeknd – Starboy
- The Weeknd – Blinding Lights
- Madonna, Playboi Carti, The Weeknd – Popular (with Playboi Carti & Madonna) – From The Idol Vol. 1 (Music from the HBO Original Series)
- The Weeknd – Die For You
- Drake, Kyla, Wizkid – One Dance
- Justin Bieber, The Kid LAROI – STAY (with Justin Bieber)
- Ruth B. – Dandelions
- Lana Del Rey, The Weeknd – Stargirl Interlude
These artists helped generate more than $400 million in royalties from streams outside of Canada in 2023, Spotify says. In addition, last year Canadian artists were discovered by first-time listeners on Spotify more than 3.8 billion times.
SOUNDTRACK TO DECADE’S BIGGEST MOMENTS IN CANADA
There’s been huge milestones and moments over the past 10 years, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the Olympics, and Canadians turned to Spotify to jam out to certain tracks during these times.
Some key moments over the last decade include:
- Canadian icon Céline Dion sang “L’Hyme à l’Amour” atop the Eiffel Tower to open the Paris Olympic games and received more than 19 million listens worldwide on Spotify in the days following the performance, with one million coming from Canada, representing a 44% uplift in global listenership.
- When Blue Jay Jose Bautista threw the “bat flip” on Oct. 14, 2015, Canadians racked up an 80% increase in listens for “Die A Happy Man” by Thomas Rett.
- Canada legalized cannabis on Oct. 17, 2018, and songs by Bob Marley and the Wailers made up five of the day’s top ten biggest uplifts in listens, with “Jamming” and “One Love” jumping by more than 175%. Among Canadians’ other song choices to mark the day were “Because I Got High” by Afroman (up 166%), “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” by Bob Dylan (112%), and “Hits from the Bong” by Cypress Hill (up 85%).
- When the Raptors won the 2019 NBA Championship Finals in June 2019, there was a 330% increase in listens to “Heaven” by Avici, ft. Coldplay.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, here are the top 5 tunes that kept Canadians going from March-June 2020: The Weeknd – “Blinding Lights,” Imanbek, SAINt JHN – “Roses – Imanbek Remix,” Roddy Ricch – “The Box,” Drake – “Toosie Slide,” and Lil Mosey – “Blueberry Faygo.”
