Staggering Statistic: Only 20% of Artists Get Over 1,000 Monthly Streams on Spotify

Nov 5

1 min read

Earlier this year, Spotify introduced a new rule for artist royalties: artists must now reach at least 1,000 streams within a 12-month period to receive any payment. This threshold aims to minimize losses from high bank fees on low royalty payments, but it also sets a challenging bar for smaller artists.

While reaching 1,000 streams annually might seem achievable for those with a fan base, hitting 1,000 streams each month is far more elusive. Recent research by Luminate reveals that only about 19.16% of artists on Spotify reach 1,000 monthly listeners. Even more striking, 158.6 million tracks—86.2% of all tracks monitored—receive fewer than 1,000 plays annually. Shockingly, 45.6 million tracks have never been played at all.

This data highlights just how competitive and challenging it is for artists to gain visibility on streaming platforms.