Ariana Grande, Charlie Puth and Fifth Harmony Share Spotlight with Up-and-Coming Artists Flume and Hailee Steinfeld
Spotify today revealed its third annual list of the 25 most influential artists under the age of 25 who are dominating the music industry right now. Eighteen-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes tops the list, boasting 25 million Spotify listeners each month and over 500 million streams of his breakout smash, Stitches.
To determine the 25 under 25 list, music experts at Spotify looked at a variety of factors such as the number of people listening to an artist each month on Spotify, artists with songs featured in Spotify’s top playlists and top-performing artists by genre.
Following Shawn Mendes at the top of the list are: Ariana Grande, Chance the Rapper, Martin Garrix and Justin Bieber. While previous lists were dominated by female pop singers, 2016 has seen a number of male acts make their mark including stars like Charlie Puth, Tory Lanez and DNCE, as well as well-known and emerging EDM and hip-hop talent.
The top 25 list also includes newcomers bursting onto the scene, such as Desiigner, who at just 19 years of age, was the breakout star of 2016 with nearly half a billion streams of his track, Panda, on Spotify. Also included are mainstays Selena Gomez, Rae Sremmurd and Demi Lovato.
“With so many young listeners on Spotify, it’s always fascinating to hone in on the peer artists they’re listening to and looking up to,” said Shanon Cook, Spotify’s Digital Trends Expert. “It seems there are more musicians than ever under the age of 25 who are doing well, and while it’s always good to see returning stars like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Rae Sremmurd, this year’s list also highlights newcomers like singer-songwriter Joel Adams and alt-rock band Nothing But Thieves, whose tracks are really engaging listeners and gaining traction in popular playlists.”
Listen to Spotify’s 25 Under 25 Playlist HERE.
Spotify’s 25 Under 25:
1. Shawn Mendes: Shawn Mendes started out posting six-second Vine clips of himself singing covers, and now, at 18, the singer-songwriter from Toronto fills major venues and attracts an impressive 25 million Spotify listeners each month. Mendes’ sophomore album, Illuminate, dropped in September and multiple tracks are popping on Spotify, with notable standout, “Treat You Better,” on track to give Mendes’ breakout smash “Stitches” (500 million plus streams) a run for its money.
2. Ariana Grande: Ariana Grande might not be a dangerous woman in the criminal sense, but her music slays. Multiple tracks from the 23-year-old singer’s latest album became instant hits; “Dangerous Woman” and “Into You” have both clocked more than 200 million streams each, and “Side to Side” (with Nicki Minaj), is a top 10 song on Spotify’s global chart. Did we also mention Grande has 27 million monthly listeners? Ok, maybe she is dangerous.
3. Chance the Rapper: Chance the Rapper’s gospel-inflected mixtape Coloring Book is lauded as one of the strongest releases of 2016 and features assists from fellow Chicago rapper Kanye West, as well as Justin Bieber and Future. Chance (real name Chancellor Johnathan Bennett) has more than 6 million monthly listeners who are really getting behind the 23-year-old’s track “No Problem” (feat. Lil Wayne and 2Chainz). With more than 60 million streams, it’s making serious noise on our global chart as well as on our popular “Rap Caviar” playlist.
4. Martin Garrix: Having reached EDM stardom at the age of 17 thanks to several bombastic remixes, Dutch artist Martin Garrix, now 20, is at the top of his game. Garrix’ banger, “In The Name of Love,” is tearing it up on Spotify’s “Today’s Top Hits” playlist. With 21 million monthly listeners, Garrix is comfortable hanging out as one of Spotify’s top twenty most popular artists of all time. Garrix just released a new single, “Make Up Your Mind,” on October 21st.
5. Justin Bieber: Justin Bieber has been on a hot streak since his comeback Diplo/Skrillex collaboration “Where Are Ü Now” dropped in early 2015. With follow-up monster solo hits that just keep coming at us, like “Love Yourself,” “What Do You Mean?” and “Sorry” – which have all passed the 700 million streams mark – there’s just no stopping the Biebs. Bieber’s collaboration with Major Lazer and MØ, “Cold Water” is currently streaming more than 2.5 million times a day.
6. Alessia Cara: Alessia Cara might have made a name for herself with a song about her disdain for teen parties, but the party has definitely arrived for this talented 20-year-old from Ontario, Canada. Since the success of “Here,” Spotify’s most viral song in the U.S. last year (and #5 globally), the R&B singer has attracted more than 13 million monthly listeners. Cara’s track, “Scars to Your Beautiful,” is a favorite in our “Today’s Top Hits” playlist at the moment.
7. Charlie Puth: With a whopping 20 million monthly listeners on Spotify, singer-songwriter Charlie Puth is one of the top players in pop music today. He gained worldwide recognition for the Wiz Khalifa song “See You Again” which Puth wrote, produced and sang on. His duets with leading ladies like Meghan Trainor (“Marvin Gaye”) and Selena Gomez (“We Don’t Talk Anymore”) turned to pop gold, with the latter seeming to have taken up permanent residency on our global charts.
8. Fifth Harmony: This all-girl R&B group needs no introduction; more than 16 million Spotify listeners stream Fifth Harmony’s infectious tracks each month. The fun, flirty jam “Work From Home” has racked up more than half a billion listens and was a playlist staple over the summer in the U.S. and UK (much like “Worth It” from the year before), and current favorite “All In My Head (Flex)” (featuring Fetty Wap) has flexed some serious muscle on our charts.
9. Hailee Steinfeld: Hailee Steinfeld’s latest track, “Starving,” is taking off, with more than 160 million streams and a confident sojourn up Spotify’s global chart. It’s safe to say the track solidifies the 19-year-old oscar-nominated actress as a top pop artist, following on from last year’s breakout single “Love Myself” (210 million streams). Steinfeld, who also starred as one of the Bardon Bellas in the accapella-celebrating movie “Pitch Perfect 2,” has 17 million monthly listeners which, I think we can all agree, is aca-astounding.
10. Flume: Australian deejay/producer Flume just picked up 11 nominations for Australia’s Grammy-equivalent awards show, the ARIA’s, and is touring Europe and the U.S. to support his excellent sophomore album, Skin. Currently, Spotify listeners can’t get enough of Flume’s latest hits “Say It” (feat. Tove Lo) and “Never Be Like You” (feat. Kai). With 13 million monthly listeners, Flume (real name Harley Edward Streten), is one of the top EDM artists on the scene.
Read the other 15 here on Spotify’s blog.
