Presenting the latest installment of W’s column, “By the Numbers,” in which we look at a given field—from art and fashion to music and movies—through the metrics that are defining it. Bringing together both the essential and the eccentric, we’re telling a sui generis story of an industry. For W’s annual Pop issue, we’re turning our lens on the music world, from streaming records to the TikTok effect, to take stock of what’s shaping the sound of now.
On average, 99,000 songs a day are uploaded to streaming platforms.
1% of artists on Spotify generate 90% of streams.
With more than 4,000,000,000 plays, The Weeknd’s 2019 song “Blinding Lights” has become the most streamed song ever on Spotify.
With nearly 2,600,000,000 plays, Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” was the most streamed song in the world last year.
For 14 weeks this year, a Kendrick Lamar song has been No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100—the longest any artist has held the top spot in 2025.
In the first 3 months of 2025, 81% of the top songs on the U.K. charts were old releases.
8 months after Lola Young debuted the song “Messy,” it reached No. 1 in the U.K.
Doja Cat’s “Say So” went viral in 2020 thanks to a popular TikTok dance.
84% of songs on the Billboard Global 200 list went viral on TikTok first.
19% of No. 1 hits are about empowerment.
13% are about hooking up.
Zach Bryan performs at the Stagecoach Music Festival in April 2025.
In 2022, country songs made up 0% of the Billboard Hot 100 list. In 2024, they made up about 25%.
Kendrick Lamar and Sza performat the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Last year, hip-hop music had 2 times the number of streams that pop music did.
Only 5.9% of producers behind popular songs in 2024 were women.
In the song “like JENNIE” the Blackpink K-pop star says her name 64 times.
About 2.5 million people attended Lady Gaga’s show at Rio’s Copacabana Beach in May, making it the highest-attended concert ever for a female musician.
The record was previously held by Madonna, who drew 1.6 million fans to Copacabana Beach in 2024.
92% of polled Americans have heard of the Jonas Brothers.
77% have heard of Joni Mitchell.
1 pop star—Katy Perry—was in the all-female crew that went to space on a rocket operated by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin.
37% of men discover new music through video games.
Only 50% of people who bought vinyl in 2023 owned a record player.
$1,100,000 (not including a $5,000 service fee) was the listed price of the “Prometheus” package for Fyre Festival 2—before it was indefinitely postponed.
43% of Gen Z in the U.K. would give up alcohol for six months to sit front row at their favorite artist’s concert.
In July, for the first time in 5,790 days, Oasis’s Noel and Liam Gallagher will perform together.
Since 2022, more than 10,300,000 tickets have been sold for Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour, the most any artist has ever sold for a single tour. It has 29 concerts left.
Premium tickets for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour are 31% more expensive than they were for her 2023 Renaissance tour.
The Renaissance tour generated an estimated $4,500,000,000 for the American economy.
Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” is 1 of the 17 songs on His Majesty King Charles III’s official playlist on Apple Music.
By 2030, the music merch market is expected to grow by $2,300,000,000, to a total estimate of $16,300,000,000.
$89,000 was the price of the unitard worn by Chappell Roan in the “Hot to Go!” music video, sold at an auction for Los Angeles wildfire relief.
70% of polled Brits think there’s no age at which it becomes inappropriate for rock stars to perform.
At 92 years old, Willie Nelson is still on tour.
Sources: Luminate, Rolling Stone, Variety, Hit Song Deconstructed, USC Annenberg, Edison Research, YouGov, Washington Post, The Independent, Yahoo, Pollstar, The Times of London, The New York Times, Billboard, Midia Research
