Pay Per Play 2022

How much money do musicians make from Spotify streams?

Not so long ago, artists could make big bucks selling records alone - but sales have plummeted, with most listeners switching to streaming platforms. Spotify is easily the biggest of these, with nearly half a billion regular users worldwide.

In 2019, the first Pay Per Play report by Broadband Deals looked into some of Spotify's most-streamed songs to discover exactly how much musicians and DJs make on the platform.
Now we're back with an updated analysis to see who's made bank since 2019, and find out how the three world-changing years have changed the picture.

Figures vary, but it's understood that Spotify currently pays between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream. If we call it $0.004 (£0.0033) per play on average, that means it takes 250 plays for a song to make $1. Competitors like Apple Music, Tidal and Youtube Music now pay pay significantly more per play - but with much smaller user-bases.

Rank Change Artist / Song Song Category Released Streams Total Earnings Avg / Month
1 = Ed Sheeran
Shape of You
Shape of You All-Time Top 100 06-01-2017 3,294,924,042 $13,179,696 $188,281
2 NEW The Weeknd
Blinding Lights
Blinding Lights All-Time Top 100 29-11-2019 3,262,223,693 $13,048,895 $362,469
3 NEW Tones and I
Dance Monkey
Dance Monkey All-Time Top 100 10-05-2019 2,698,974,276 $10,795,897 $257,045
4 NEW Lewis Capaldi
Someone You Loved
Someone You Loved All-Time Top 100 08-11-2018 2,549,121,501 $10,196,486 $212,427
5 ↓ 2 Post Malone ft. 21 Savage
Rockstar
Rockstar All-Time Top 100 15-09-2017 2,546,983,577 $10,187,934 $164,322
6 ↑ 18 Post Malone and Swae Lee
Sunflower
Sunflower All-Time Top 100 18-10-2018 2,468,278,636 $9,873,115 $201,492
7 ↓ 5 Drake ft. Wizkid and Kyla
One Dance
One Dance All-Time Top 100 05-04-2016 2,463,846,573 $9,855,386 $124,752
8 ↓ 4 The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey
Closer
Closer All-Time Top 100 29-07-2016 2,406,226,137 $9,624,905 $126,643
9 ↑ 11 Imagine Dragons
Believer
Believer All-Time Top 100 01-02-2017 2,286,928,365 $9,147,713 $132,576
10 ↑ 86 Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello
Señorita
Señorita All-Time Top 100 21-06-2019 2,278,255,317 $9,113,021 $222,269
11 = Ed Sheeran
Perfect
Perfect All-Time Top 100 03-03-2017 2,228,804,113 $8,915,216 $131,106
12 NEW The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber
Stay
Stay All-Time Top 100,
UK Top 40 2022
09-07-2021 2,228,674,655 $8,914,699 $557,169
13 ↓ 1 James Arthur
Say You Won't Let Go
Say You Won't Let Go All-Time Top 100 09-09-2016 2,196,854,244 $8,787,417 $118,749
14 ↑ 69 Billie Eilish
Bad Guy
Bad Guy All-Time Top 100 29-03-2019 2,161,941,888 $8,647,768 $196,540
15 NEW Glass Animals
Heat Waves
Heat Waves All-Time Top 100,
UK Top 40 2022
29-06-2020 2,121,472,761 $8,485,891 $292,617
16 ↓ 11 Ed Sheeran
Thinking Out Loud
Thinking Out Loud All-Time Top 100 20-06-2014 2,110,490,269 $8,441,961 $83,584
17 ↑ 42 Juice WRLD
Lucid Dreams
Lucid Dreams All-Time Top 100 04-05-2018 2,092,071,312 $8,368,285 $154,968
18 NEW Dua Lipa
Don't Start Now
Don't Start Now All-Time Top 100 31-10-2019 2,070,034,743 $8,280,139 $230,004
19 ↓ 13 Drake
God's Plan
God's Plan All-Time Top 100 19-01-2018 2,057,447,459 $8,229,790 $141,893
20 ↓ 4 The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk
Starboy
Starboy All-Time Top 100 21-09-2016 2,052,056,975 $8,208,228 $110,922
21 NEW Billie Eilish and Khalid
Lovely
Lovely All-Time Top 100 19-04-2018 2,012,532,603 $8,050,130 $146,366
22 NEW Harry Styles
Watermelon Sugar
Watermelon Sugar All-Time Top 100 15-05-2020 2,011,486,387 $8,045,946 $268,198
23 ↓ 8 Ed Sheeran
Photograph
Photograph All-Time Top 100 20-06-2014 2,007,902,638 $8,031,611 $79,521
24 ↑ 18 Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody All-Time Top 100 31-10-1975 1,977,303,081 $7,909,212 $51,694
25 ↓ 4 The Chainsmokers and Coldplay
Something Just Like This
Something Just Like This All-Time Top 100 22-02-2017 1,970,415,367 $7,881,661 $114,227
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