Spotify has just released its 2020 highlights, and guess who shines brightest? Bad Bunny, with more than 8.3 billion streams, is officially the platform’s most-played artist. That’s a 4-spot bump from last year, when he ranked fifth.
And he’s not the lone Latinx at the top of Spotify’s rankings, either. He’s joined by J. Balvin, in third place, Anuel AA at 14, Ozuna at 17, and Daddy Yankee at 20.
Who earned the most streams globally for a single album, though? Yup, it’s Bad Bunny, with 3.3 billion-plus streams for YHLQMDLG.
Spotify has Benito’s reaction to the news in the latest episode of its For the Record podcast here.
Looking back to 2017 through now, there’s a clear statement: Latinx artists are globally beloved. To have both Bad Bunny and Balvin in the top five this year is stellar, especially because it’s the second year in a row the pair has been together at one of Spotify’s summits. (In 2019, they both landed in the top five of most-streamed male artists.)
Add to all this, though, the stats for the past few years: In 2017, “Despacito” and its Bieber-fied remix took second and third place for most-streamed track worldwide, Cardi B was the third most-streamed female artist of 2018, and ¡Viva Latino! and Baila Reggaeton were Spotify’s third and fourth most-followed playlists.
In our book, there’s never been any reason to deny the awesome power of Latinx artists—but these receipts are certainly nice to have and show off.
Head to Spotify’s newsroom for more on the platform’s 2020 rankings.