Drake, Sheeran most streamed artists

Despite not having released a full-length album since 2013, Rihanna was the most-streamed female of 2015 with just over 1 billion streams. The rapper was the most streamed artist of the year globally.

Over 1.8 billion streams and 46 million listeners put Drake in the top spot overall, with Rihanna this year’s most streamed female artiste thanks to over 1 billion streams and 57 million listeners.

In the United States, Drake topped the list of most streamed artists, followed by the Weeknd, West, Sheeran and Eminem.

Coming up behind Drake on the list of top five streaming artists are Ed Sheeran (last year’s top artist), The Weeknd, Maroon 5 and Kanye West.

According to Vanity Fair Online, it has been an interesting 2015 for Rihanna.

Managing to rack up over a billion streams on the strength of a handful of new singles (including the omnipresent “Better Have My Money”) and some album cuts from 2012 is no small feat.

The Weeknd was also among the winners in Spotify’s Year in Music, coveting the most streamed album of the year award for “Beauty Behind the Madness”. Swift didn’t release an album this year either (1989 came out in 2014), but none of her music is on the service. Surprisingly, chart-topping boy band One Direction appear to be missing from the list despite the fact they released their fifth studio album, Made In The A.M., on the same day as Bieber on, 13 November 2015.