Music streaming service Spotify have announced that American rapper JUICE WRLD was the most streamed artist in Ireland last year - not bad for a man who wasn't even alive.
JUICE WRLD passed away after a drug overdose in early December 2019, but that hasn't stopped his songs being streamed over and over during the last year. He took the top spot, ahead of Drake, Dermot Kennedy, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande, which is a great five-a-side team by anyone's standards. You would doubt that the other four have heard of Dermot Kennedy, but it's nice to see an Irish artist in such exalted company.
Dermot Kennedy's album, Without Fear, was also Ireland's favourite album of 2020, with the most streams recorded ahead of Lewis' Capaldi's Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, Harry Styles's Fine Line, Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia and After Hours by The Weeknd.
The Weeknd did manage to come top in one category, with the hit Blinding Lights topping the charts as the most streamed single songs. In fact, it was the most streamed song worldwide. My attempts to listen to Richard Dawson's Jogging forty million times seem to have been in vain, then - he lost out to The Weeknd, but also hits from Imanbek and SAINt JHN, DaBaby and Roddy Ricch, Lewis Capaldi and Joel Corry featuring MNEK.
Our podcasts tastes lie much closer to home. Four of our top five were Irish: The 2 Johnnies was top of the pile, with the Blindboy Podcast The Laughs of the Your Life with Doireann Garrihy and The David McWilliams Podcast all in the top five, along with Joe Rogan.
Advert
Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican rapper, was top of the global artists list - probably helped by having hits in both English and Spanish, with Drake, JUICE WRLD and The Weeknd not far behind. Turns out we really like blokes rapping, who knew? Perhaps it's just the sort of people who use Spotify: get the grannies of Ireland onto it and Daniel O'Donnell will reclaim his rightful place at the top of world music in no time.
Featured Image Credit: