The most popular artist on Spotify has never released an album or single, yet beat Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Rihanna, BTS

The most followed artist on Spotify, with 144 million followers, has only done playback singing all his life.

Published on: May 2, 2025, 06:03:17 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

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The streaming platform Spotify is one of the largest music platforms in the world. Most music artists globally boast millions of followers on the platform, which validates their stardom. So, it is reasonable that the biggest names in music today - like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Eminem, and Drake - are among the top 10 in the list of most followed artists on the platform. Yet, they were all beaten for the top spot by one man who has never released a studio album or single. (Also read: India's Spotify 2024 report card: I-pop on rise, Ranveer beats Joe Rogan, Punjabi tunes rule, Aashiqui 2 still…)

The most followed artist on Spotify

Indian playback singer Arijit Singh is the most-followed artist on Spotify globally. With 144 million followers on the music streaming platform, Arijit beat Taylor Swift (136 million) and Ed Sheeran (120 million) to the top. Four other artists - Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, and Eminem - have over 100 million Spotify followers each. Some other global superstars are surprisingly not in the top 10, including BTS (#11), Rihanna (#13), Coldplay (#16), and Selena Gomez (#21). Pop superstar Beyoncé does not even make it to the top 25. Other Indian artists in the top 25 include AR Rahman (#15), Pritam (#23), and Neha Kakkar (#24).

Arijit Singh is one of the most popular singers in the world. (HT file photo) (HT_PRINT)

Arijit Singh's musical career

Arijit Singh began his career as a contestant on the reality show Fame Gurukul at the age of 18. Immediately after the show, Arijit was signed by Tips for his maiden album, but it was never released. He eventually turned into a music producer and programmer, working for several successful composers. Eventually, he made his singing debut in 2010 with the Telugu song Neeve Na Neeve Na. In 2012, he found success in Hindi music as well with the song Raabta. However, his real breakthrough was the successful soundtrack of the 2013 film, Aashiqui 2, in which he sang most of the songs, all of which were chartbusters. Over the last decade, he has sung several chartbusters, winning the National Film Award twice and the Filmfare Award seven times. He has also collaborated with successful international artists like Ed Sheeran and Martin Garrix.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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