Bad Bunny is Most-Streamed Artist on Spotify for 2021 for Second Year in a Row
It’s not surprising though it’s still worth celebrating that Bad Bunny is once again Spotify’s most streamed artist of the year for 2021
Photo courtesy of Spotify/Eddie Santiago
It’s not surprising though it’s still worth celebrating that Bad Bunny is once again Spotify’s most streamed artist of the year for 2021. Benito’s songs were streamed a total of 9.1billion times this year compared with 8.3 billion in 2020. His claim on the No.1 spot is even more impressive considering he didn’t realize an album this year though 2020’s YHLQMDLG remained in the Top 20 albums for this year after being the most-streamed album in 2020. El Último Tour Del Mundo (2020) was No. 8 in the top global albums of this year, it made history as the first all-Spanish-language album to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album recently won Favorite Latin Album at the American Music Awards Nov. 21, where he also won Favorite Male Latin Artist.
“I just make music. I just enjoy my work. I hope 2022 is going to be great,” he said in an interview shared on Spotify’s Instagram.
Though he didn’t release an album, he had several hits this year including “Yonaguni”, “100 Millones” with Luar La L, and “De Museo”. He also had major collabs with Aventura on “Volvi”, Tainy and Julieta Venegas with “Lo Siento BB”, and Rosalía. The global superstar clearly is also not the only Latinx artist on the list, the data found 12 Latinx artists in the global Top 50 for most-streamed artists. J Balvin was No. 7, Rauw Alejandro moved up 17 spots from last year to No.12, but the biggest jump goes to Jhay Cortez who climbed the ranks by more than 100 spots landing at No. 37. Other artists include Myke Towers (No. 18), Ozuna (No.25), Anuel AA (No. 32), Maluma (No. 33), Daddy Yankee (No.39), Farruko (No. 41), Sech (No. 44), and Karol G (No.48).
Karol G keeps her title as the top Latin female artist for the second year in a row followed by Selena Gomez, Shakira, Camila Cabello, and Maria Becerra. She was also the only Latin female artist to rank in the Top 50 for global artists. The growing number of Latin artists in the top 50 also meant millions were listening to Latin music; According to Spotify, 870 million users have listened to at least one Latin song in the past year. Over 20.4 billion Latin songs were streamed last month. Though we do love to see millions enjoying Latin music, it’s also still very male-dominated when it comes to global appeal so hopefully next year we see some Latina powerhouses make it to the Top 50.
For Benito though, his success hasn’t gone to his head and he told HIGHArt, a magazine from Highsnobiety, that he’s still surprised by his global success.
“I still don’t understand how people see me, or how I can possibly impact so many people. And maybe this is good,” he said. “Maybe not understanding my reach helps keep me humble. It helps keep me the same Benito that I was growing up. The one that created art just because he was passionate about it.”
