News December 2, 2020

Tones And I’s ‘Dance Monkey’ was No. 2 most-streamed song on Spotify in 2020

Senior Journalist, B2B

It’s official: Tones And I had the biggest track on Spotify this year by a female artist.

Indeed, Tones’ ‘Dance Monkey’ was bigger than any song by a band, DJ, Latin crooner or classical crossover star on the streaming platform.

Just one artist had a bigger hit on the Sweden-originated streamer, The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights,’ which leads Spotify’s Most Streamed Songs Globally list with almost 1.6 billion streams in 2020.

Abel Tesfaye will no doubt feel justified in his ongoing beef over his Grammys snub.

‘Dance Monkey’ comes in at No. 2 on the worldwide list, ahead of Roddy Ricch’s ‘The Box’; ’Roses – Imanbek Remix’ by Imanbek and SAINt JHN; and Dua Lipa’s ‘Don’t Start Now’.

It’s all spelled out in the annual Wrapped recap, which captures the most played artists, albums, songs, playlists and podcasts with Spotify’s 320 million users.

Tones’ feat is even more astonishing when considering ‘Dance Monkey’ came out in May 2019, a full six months before ‘Blinding Lights,’ which was still heating up when the new year rolled around.

On Spotify, fresh meat matters.

Tones and I’s Spotify’s Front Left Live playlist event in Melbourne, Australia.

As previously reported, ‘Dance Monkey’ recently leapt into third place on Spotify’s all-time most-streamed list, behind only Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ and ‘Rockstar’ by Post Malone featuring 21 Savage.

The Aussie-originated hit is closing in on 2 billion all-time streams on Spotify, and has danced past seven billion hits across all platforms.

In other takeaways from Spotify’s 2020 Wrapped Global Top Lists, international artists dominated the top five artists. Puerto Rican singer and rapper Bad Bunny tops out with 8.3 billion-plus streams, ahead of Drake (Canada), J Balvin (Colombia), the late Juice WRLD (U.S.) and The Weeknd (Canada).

Bad Bunny also bagged the year’s most-streamed album, with YHLQMDLG, while Billie Eilish was the most-streamed female artist for the second year running, ahead of Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, and Halsey, respectively.

In a closer look into the action in Australia, Juice WRLD was the most streamed artist in these parts, ahead of Drake and Taylor Swift.

And the most streamed homegrown artist in Australia? That honour goes to record-busting hip-hop veteran Hilltop Hoods for the second successive year. They’re followed by Flume, Tones, The Wiggles and 5 Seconds of Summer.

Watch Tones And I’s ‘Dance Monkey’:

Check out Spotify’s 2020 Wrapped Global Top Lists below:

Most Streamed Artists Globally

1. Bad Bunny
2. Drake
3. J Balvin
4. Juice WRLD
5. The Weeknd

Most Streamed Female Artists

1. Billie Eilish
2. Taylor Swift
3. Ariana Grande
4. Dua Lipa
5. Halsey

Most Streamed Albums Globally

1. YHLQMDLG, Bad Bunny
2. After Hours, The Weeknd
3. Hollywood’s Bleeding, Post Malone
4. Fine Line, Harry Styles
5. Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa

Most Streamed Songs Globally

1. “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd
2. “Dance Monkey” by Tones And I
3. “The Box” by Roddy Ricch
4. “Roses – Imanbek Remix” by Imanbek and SAINt JHN
5. “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa

Most Popular Podcasts Globally

1. The Joe Rogan Experience
2. TED Talks Daily
3. The Daily
4. The Michelle Obama Podcast
5. Call Her Daddy

Most Popular Podcast Genres Globally

1. Society & Culture
2. Comedy
3. Lifestyle & Health
4. Arts & Entertainment
5. Education

Spotify 2020 Wrapped Australia Top Lists

Most Streamed Artists – Australia

1. Juice WRLD
2. Drake
3. Taylor Swift
4. Eminem
5. The Weeknd

Most Streamed AU Artists

1. Hilltop Hoods
2. Flume
3. Tones And I
4. The Wiggles
5. 5 Seconds of Summer

Most Streamed Songs – Australia

1. “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd
2. “Roses – Imanbek Remix” by Imanbek, SAINt JHN
3. “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa
4. “ROCKSTAR (feat Roddy Richh)” by DaBaby, Roddy Richh
5. “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles

Most Streamed AU Songs

1. “Dance Monkey” by Tones And I
2. “Never Seen the Rain” by Tones And I
3. “Live In Life” by The Rubens
4. “Rushing Back” by Flume, Vera Blue
5. “This City” by Sam Fischer

Most Streamed Albums – Australia

1. Fine Line, Harry Styles
2. After Hours, The Weeknd
3. Shoot For the Stars Aim For The Moon, Pop Smoke
4. Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, Lewis Capaldi
5. Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa

Most Popular Podcasts – Australia

1. From the Newsroom
2. The Quicky
3. Squiz Today
4. The Joe Rogan Experience
5. 7am