Drake Replaces Ed Sheeran (Who Replaced Drake) As Spotify's Most Streamed Artist of 2018

Spotify released its 2018 year in review streaming stats on Tuesday and what a landmark year it was for men in music.

Drake surpassed 2017’s most streamed artist of the year, Ed Sheeran, for the No. 1 spot, with more than 8.2 billion streams worldwide. Last year, the one-time Game of Thrones actor topped the list with 6.3 billion streams (courtesy his album ÷ and the unfortunate ubiquity of “Shape of You”) and in 2016, Drake reigned supreme with 4.7 billion streams after dropping his way-too-long album Views. I would say they’re chasing each other, but Sheeran was knocked down to the No. 5 spot this year.

A quick perusal of the numbers and you’ll also notice that men dominated the Most-Streamed Artists, Most-Streaming Tracks and Most-Streamed Albums categories—the latter with the very welcomed exception of Dua Lipa, who seems to be beloved everywhere except the United States. (For what it’s worth, Cardi B is the sole woman on the same list in the U.S.)

Drake and Post Malone were the most streamed artists both in America and globally. Cardi B and Ariana Grande were the top two streamed women in the U.S.

Most-Streamed Artists

1. Drake

2. Post Malone

3. XXXTENTACION

4. J Balvin

5. Ed Sheeran

Most-Streamed Female Artists

1. Ariana Grande

2. Dua Lipa

3. Cardi B

4. Taylor Swift

5. Camila Cabello

Whatever disappointment you may be feeling in a streaming platform whose algorithm places precedence on men should be swapped with total shock that somehow J Balvin made it to No. 4 on the Most-Streamed global list. He needs to cut Cardi a check for those “I Like It” streams, stat.