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Experts have mapped out the world’s highest-earning Spotify songs in a study that may surprise you.
According to the research, Lewis Capaldi, The Killers and Lady Gaga are among the many artists who have taken Spotify by storm.
‘Mr Brightside’ is the UK’s biggest earner, with The Killers raking in more than £1 million ($1,254,087) in royalties for the 2003 classic, according to NetCredit.
Meanwhile, Scottish pop star Capaldi took the lead Ireland with $160,403 (£128,234) for his ballad Someone You Loved, while Post Malone $4,507,241 (£3,603,313) for Sunflower in the US
Post Malone’s Spider-Man soundtrack has generated the most revenue of any Spotify song, while The Weekend’s Blinding Lights topped the charts in 10 different countries.
Spotify’s top earning songs: Mr Brightside is the UK’s top earner, with The Killers taking in over £1million in royalties. Scottish pop star Capaldi took the lead in Ireland with $160,403 for the ballad Someone You Loved, while Post Malone took in $4,507,241 for Sunflower in the US.
These results come after the music streaming platform paid $7 billion in royalties to music artists just two years ago, according to NetCredit
NetCredit said: ‘There’s no doubt about it: streaming services like Spotify have revolutionized the way we listen to music.
Where once enjoying music meant flipping through a stack of CDs or paying (and waiting) for a download, Spotify instead offers 100 million songs at the touch of a button.
“But the world’s most popular streaming service won’t get free access to these tunes — Spotify paid $7 billion in royalties to the music industry in 2021 alone.”
Big names like Avicii also broke records in Sweden with a Spotify income of $653,671 (£522,577), while James Arthur took Singapore by storm with $162,162 (£129,640).
On the other hand, Tom Odell’s 2013 hit Another Love was the highest-grossing song in Saudi Arabia with a score of $35,287 (£28,210), and Lady Gaga’s The Shallow won Iceland with $16,904 (£13,513).
Despite this, the results often seemed very different when categorized into the genres of rock, hip hop, latin and electronic dance music (EDM).
To calculate this, researchers took into account Spotify’s pay-per-stream rate in addition to streaming data charts Kworb.
That is understood artists earn about $0.005 USD – equivalent to £0.004 – every time their song is streamed on Spotify.
Best Seller Sweater Weatherr of The Neighborhood was not only a top earner in the US, but also in Poland and Romania.
However, Mr. Brightside again took the lead in the UK for the highest grossing rock hit, while also topping the charts in Australia and Ireland.
For the hip-hop category, yes Drake’s One Dance hit which came out on top in the UK and 13 other countries.
These were mainly South American and Central American countries, including Chile, Argentina, Honduras and Guatemala.
In the US, Juice WRLD’s Lucid Dreams topped the hip-hop charts with $4,371,446 (£3,494,752), while Post Malone’s Rockstar swept Ireland and Canada.
When it came to EDM, Roses (Imanbek Remix) by SAINt JHN was the top-grossing hit of 14 countries, but generated the most in Canada with $369,492 (£295,390).
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it was Joel Corry’s hit song Head & Heart that earned the most, with $651,519 (£520,856) and $90,619 (£72,445) in each country.
Elton John’s Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) also came out on top for 12 other countries, but still earned the most in Mexico with $602,910 (£481,996).
Spotify’s highest-earning rock hits: The Neighborhood’s Bestseller Sweater Weather was not only a top earner in the US, but also topped the charts in Poland and Romania. But Mr Brightside once again took the lead in the UK for the top-grossing rock hit, and also led the board in Australia and Ireland
Spotify’s highest-earning hip-hop songs: Drake took the lead with One Dance in the UK with $948,613 and 13 other countries. In the US, Juice WRLD’s Lucid Dreams topped the chart for earning $4,371,446 from hip-hop
Spotify’s Highest Earning Electric Dance Music Hits (EDM): For 12 countries, Elton John’s Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) also came out on top. For the UK and Ireland it was Joel Corry’s hit Head & Heart
Spotify’s highest-grossing Latin hits: Luis Fonsi’s Despacito took the world by storm, topping the charts in 17 countries, including the UK, where it raked in $529,885
Although the results in earlier categories were very mixed, it could be argued that the Latin genre produced more uniform results.
Luis Fonsi’s Despacito took the world by storm, topping the charts in 17 countries, including the UK, where it grossed $529,885 (£423,616).
At its peak, the pop track topped the charts in 47 countries, with its music video also being the second most viewed of all time on YouTube.
In 19 other countries, Pepas by Farruko was the highest-grossing song, while nine other countries united through their love for Balvin’s 2019 hit LA CANCIÓN.
MailOnline has approached Spotify for comment.
This research comes less than a month after Spotify released their new Niches playlist tool.
‘Angry Whistling’ and ‘Sad Cooking’ are among tens of thousands of new playlists now available to create thanks to the music platform’s new Niche Mixes creator.
Regardless of the occasion, Spotify claims that the tool can create playlists filled with both songs you already know and others to suit any mood.
Spotify said, “If you want to get super specific, look for an activity, vibe, or aesthetic that describes the moment you’re in, and add the word ‘mix’ at the end.” Don’t be shy. Get creative. The more Mixes you’re looking for, the more music you can discover.’