TikTok, Spotify, Apple Music Reveal Their Most Popular Songs Of 2024, And Some Of The Results Are Surprising
It’s year-end list season. This week, Stereogum is one of many, many music publications unveiling its lists of 2024’s best albums and songs. Streaming services and social-media platforms are getting in on the year-end action, too. Today, as anyone with a social media account already knows, Spotify sent out its long-awaited Spotify Wrapped data. (For whatever reason, my daughter was really impatient for that to arrive.) People probably won’t be too surprised to learn most of what did well on Spotify and Apple Music this year, but TikTok’s year-end list has some surprises.
As Billboard reports, the year’s biggest global TikTok song is “Gata Only,” a track from the Chilean artists FloyyMenor and Cris MJ. Billboard has been keeping tabs with its TikTok Top 50 chart, and the results are wild. German dance producers Jaxomy and Agatino Romero came in at #2 with their remix of the Italian singer Raffaella Carrà ’s 1980 song “Pedro,” while Iranian-Dutch singer Sevdaliza comes in at #3 with the Pabllo Vittarr/Yseult collab “Alibi.” The top 10 also includes tracks from Philly rapper Lay Bankz and regional Mexican music singer-songwriter Xavi, as well as Tinashe, Billie Eilish, Benson Boone, and Alphaville’s 40-year-old hit “Forever Young.” Here’s the global top 10:
01 FloyyMenor & Cris MJ – “Gata Only”
02 Jaxomy, Agatino Romero, & Raffaella Carrà “Pedro”
03 Sevdaliza – “Alibi” (Feat. Pabllo Vittar & Yseult)
04 Tommy Richman – “Million Dollar Baby (VHS)”
05 Lay Bankz – “Tell Ur Girlfriend”
06 Xavi – “La Diabla”
07 Tinashe – “Nasty”
08 Billie Eilish – “Birds Of A Feather”
09 Alphaville – “Forever Young”
10 Benson Boone – “Beautiful Things”
In the US, the Virginia singer Tommy Richman’s out-of-nowhere viral hit “Million Dollar Baby” — specifially the distorted, lo-res “VHS” version of the track, was the year’s biggest TikTok hit. “Gata Only” and Lay Bankz also make that chart, as do the Kanye West/Ty Dolla $ign collab “Carnival” and the Future/Metro Boomin track “Type Shit,” two songs that feature Playboi Carti. Viral rap stars Flo Milli, GloRilla, and ian are all represented. Weirdly enough, so is Blood Orange’s “Champagne Coast,” which came out in 2011. TikTok remains a strange and fascinating place. Here’s the US top 10:
01 Tommy Richman – “Million Dollar Baby (VHS)”
02 Â¥$/Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign – “Carnival” (Feat. Rich The Kid & Playboi Carti)
03 Lay Bankz – “Tell Ur Girlfriend”
04 “Future & Metro Boomin – “Type Shit” (Feat. Travis Scott & Playboi Carti)
05 Flo Milli – “Never Lose Me”
06 Blood Orange – “Champagne Coast”
07 Billie Eilish – “Birds Of A Feather”
08 ian – “Magic Johnson”
09 GloRilla – “TGIF”
10 FloyyMenor & Cris MJ – “Gata Only”
As for Spotify, you will not be shocked to learn that Taylor Swift was the streaming service’s most-streamed global artist, with usual suspects like the Weeknd, Bad Bunny, and Drake right on her heels. Swift also dominated in the US, with Drake at #2 and Zach Bryan at #3. In the US, as in the rest of the world, Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department was the #1 album, while her buddy Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” was the #1 song. There aren’t too many surprises on any of those lists, but I suppose we should credit Djo, otherwise known as the guy who plays Steve on Stranger Things, with making a strong showing with his surprise indie-pop hit “End Of Beginning.” Check out some of Spotify’s lists below.
Most-streamed artists, globally:
01 Taylor Swift
02 The Weeknd
03 Bad Bunny
04 Drake
05 Billie Eilish
06 Travis Scott
07 Peso Pluma
08 Kanye West
09 Ariana Grande
10 Feid
Most-streamed artists, US:
01 Taylor Swift
02 Drake
03 Zach Bryan
04 Morgan Wallen
05 Kanye West
06 Future
07 Kendrick Lamar
08 Travis Scott
09 The Weeknd
10 Metro Boomin
Most-streamed songs, US:
01 Sabrina Carpenter – “Espresso”
02 Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
03 Shaboozey – “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
04 Post Malone – “I Had Some Help” (Feat. Morgan Wallen)
05 Tommy Richman – “Million Dollar Baby”
06 Chappell Roan – “Good Luck, Babe!”
07 Benson Boone – “Beautiful Things”
08 Billie Eilish – “Birds Of A Feather”
09 Zach Bryan – “I Remember Everything” (Feat. Kacey Musgraves)
10 Noah Kahan – “Stick Season”
Most-streamed albums, US:
01 Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology
02 Morgan Wallen – One Thing At A Time
03 Sabrina Carpenter – Short N’ Sweet
04 Noah Kahan – Stick Season
05 Chappell Roan – The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess
06 Billie Eilish – Hit Me Soft And Hard
07 SZA – SOS
08 Morgan Wallen – Dangerous: The Double Album
09 Zach Bryan – Zach Bryan
10 Taylor Swift – 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
At least according to that streaming data, the Kendrick Lamar feud hasn’t hurt Drake’s streaming numbers much. Over at Apple Music, however, Kendrick’s Drake diss “Not Like Us,” which came in at #2 on the Spotify list, is the year’s most-streamed song. Also, Japanese rap duo Creepy Nuts made it in there? I guess I have to figure out what Creepy Nuts are all about. Here’s Apple Music’s year-end top 10:
01 Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
02 Benson Boone – “Beautiful Things”
03 Sabrina Carpenter – “Espresso”
04 Shaboozey – “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
05 Taylor Swift – “Cruel Summer”
06 Post Malone – “I Had Some Help” (Feat. Morgan Wallen)
07 Teddy Swims – “Lose Control”
08 Future, Metro Boomin, & Kendrick Lamar – “Like That”
09 Billie Eilish – “Birds Of A Feather”
10 Creepy Nuts – “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born”