Spotify's Downloads Soar to New Heights in 2022

Ariel Ariel
2/10/23

This is a single insight from This Week in Apps - Apple's Sweep, Spotify's Explosive year, Mobile Casinos, and More!. Check out the full article for more insights.


Spotify's Downloads Soar to New Heights in 2022

Spotify's downloads took a hard hit when Apple Music first launched. That resulted in the no-longer-news battle between the two which also led to declining downloads on the App Store.

But it seems the trend changed in 2022. Should Apple be worried?

Let's go with a soft maybe, for now.

According to our download estimates, Spotify's quarterly downloads grew 51% between 2018 and 2022. In more absolute terms, Spotify added 41M downloads in Q1 of 2018 and ended Q4 of 2022 with 62M downloads.

The trend has generally been up-and-to-the-right, but not always.

Downloads dipped a bunch in 2020 and 2021, slowing down growth, and for one whole quarter even dipping below their starting point.

But that changed in 2022. Q1 of 2022 was their second-highest since 2018, with 55M estimated downloads, and Q4 was their highest with 62M downloads.

Spotify added nearly a quarter billion new mobile users in 2022. Nearly a billion new mobile users since 2018.

I'm sure Apple is a little worried.

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All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.

Tagged: #music

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