Discover How The World Listened To K-pop This Year With 2022 Spotify Wrapped

The top 10 most-streamed K-pop artists alone reached more than 16.5 billion streams this year

Spotify – the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service – released its annual Wrapped campaign this year, unveiling a series of data on how fans worldwide listened this year. And as part of the 2022 Wrapped, Spotify also disclosed how the world listened to the K-pop genre specifically this year.

Demonstrating the continued global growth and success of the internationally celebrated genre, Spotify revealed that the top 10 most-streamed K-pop artists alone reached more than 16.5 billion streams this year, which is an increase by 56% and 20% compared to the same data from 2020 and 2021 Wrapped, respectively. While ENHYPEN and (G)I-DLE newly joined the top 10 list this year, BTS, BLACKPINK, TWICE, and Stray Kids kept their places from first to fourth spots in order, in addition to ITZY and Red Velvet remaining on the eighth and tenth spots, respectively. SEVENTEEN, who took seventh place on the list last year, also moved up to number five, followed by TOMORROW X TOGETHER.

Spotify’s top 10 K-pop tracks this year have been dominated by BTS and BLACKPINK, including their members’ solo projects, who took six and three spots of the list this year, respectively. BTS’ “Dynamite” took the first place on the list in 2022, only switching places with “Butter,” the most-streamed K-pop song in 2021 Wrapped. IVE’s “LOVE DIVE” took the sixth place to become the one and only track out of the top 10 that was not participated by top two acts. Last but not least, “With you” for the drama Our Blues sung by HA SUNG WOON and Jimin of BTS was the only OSTs on the list.

As the fourth-generation K-pop acts have been expanding their presence in the genre, seven of the representative fourth-generation K-pop girl groups who debuted since 2018 – ITZY, (G)I-DLE, aespa, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, NewJeans, and STAYC – occupied the top 10 list of female K-pop groups. BLACKPINK, TWICE, and ITZY kept the same top three places as last year. Meanwhile, BTS and Stray Kids held their top two spots on the list of 10 most-streamed K-pop boy groups from last year, while TREASURE emerged as 10th.

Among K-pop male solo artists, BTS members j-hope, SUGA (also known by his other stage name Agust D) and V topped the list from first to third places in order, followed by PSY, whose collaborated song with SUGA “That That” grabbed global listeners’ attention. Jay Park came in fifth, based on the success of his hottest works “MOMMAE,” “GANADARA” featuring IU, and “All I Wanna Do,” while DPR IAN capped the list as 10th with his beloved “No Blueberries” featuring DPR LIVE and CL, as well as “So Beautiful.”

Following BLACKPINK’s LISA, IU and TAEYEON recorded second and third places of the top K-pop female solo artists list with their top songs “LILAC” and “INVU,” respectively. Jessi, who dropped her single “ZOOM” in April came in fourth, while TWICE’s NAYEON with her solo EP IM NAYEON released in June took the fifth spot. The list of K-pop female solo heroines also included singer-songwriter BIBI, LeeHi, JEON SOMI, CHUNG HA, and ROSÉ.

“Following last year, we are elated to share the achievements K-pop artists have made throughout the year and celebrate them together with our global listeners, artists and partners through 2022 Wrapped,” said Kossy Ng, Spotify’s Head of Music Asia. “It’s exciting to see how the data reflects the globalisation of Korean music, as we continue to connect artists with more listeners across the world. At the same time, we hope it will be a fun, and enjoyable moment for fans as they close out this year with who their top streamed artists and tracks are!”

Spotify 2022 Wrapped Global K-pop Top Lists:

Top K-pop Artists Globally

1. BTS
2. BLACKPINK
3. TWICE
4. Stray Kids
5. SEVENTEEN
6. TOMORROW X TOGETHER
7. ENHYPEN
8. ITZY
9. (G)I-DLE
10. Red Velvet

Top K-pop Songs Globally

1. “Dynamite” – BTS
2. “Butter” – BTS
3. “Pink Venom” – BLACKPINK
4. “MONEY” – LISA
5. “Yet To Come” – BTS
6. “LOVE DIVE” – IVE
7. “Shut Down” – BLACKPINK
8. “Christmas Tree” – V
9. “Permission to Dance” – BTS
10. “With you” – HA SUNG WOON, Jimin

Top K-pop Female Groups Globally

1. BLACKPINK
2. TWICE
3. ITZY
4. (G)I-DLE
5. Red Velvet
6. aespa
7. IVE
8. LE SSERAFIM
9. NewJeans
10. STAYC

Top K-pop Male Groups Globally

1. BTS
2. Stray Kids
3. SEVENTEEN
4. TOMORROW X TOGETHER
5. ENHYPEN
6. NCT DREAM
7. ATEEZ
8. NCT127
9. EXO
10. TREASURE

Top K-pop Female Solo Artists Globally

1. LISA
2. IU
3. TAEYEON
4. Jessi
5. NAYEON
6. BIBI
7. LeeHi
8. JEON SOMI
9. CHUNG HA
10. ROSÉ

Top K-pop Male Solo Artists Globally

1. j-hope
2. SUGA (incl. Agust D)
3. V
4. PSY
5. Jay Park
6. HA SUNG WOON
7. Jimin
8. Jung Kook
9. JIN
10. DPR IAN