Spotify today reported its third quarter earnings for 2018, announcing that paid subscribers for its streaming music service have grown to 87 million and total monthly active users (including the free tier) now reach 191 million. This is an increase from 83 million paid subscribers and 180 million total users that Spotify had in July 2018.

spotify logo
In terms of year-over-year growth, paid subscriber numbers have grown 40 percent in comparison to 2017 and MAUs have grown 28 percent. Spotify touted its various multi-partner bundles as a big help to signing up new subscribers, which are also retaining users for longer and driving churn lower. The latest bundle includes Spotify, Hulu, and Showtime for $4.99/month for students.

Spotify is in an ongoing race with Apple Music to add more subscribers, and as of now Spotify is still winning in terms of paid subscribers. It's been a while since we've heard news of updated Apple Music subscriber numbers, with the last count in April 2018 putting Apple's service at 40 million paid subscribers. Apple Music does not have a free tier like Spotify, but counting users on the three-month free trial along with paid users, Apple's service hit over 50 million subscribers in May 2018.

These numbers refer to global paid subscriber users, and in a report over the summer it was suggested that Apple Music is actually ahead of Spotify's paid subscriber count in the United States. Both Apple Music and Spotify were said to have more than 20 million paid subscribers in the U.S. as of July 2018, and at the time Apple was "a hair ahead" of its rival.

Looking into the fourth quarter of 2018, Spotify expects paid subscribers to reach 93-96 million users, while monthly active users are predicted to break the 200 million user milestone and sit somewhere between 199-206 million users globally.

Tag: Spotify

Top Rated Comments

Bawstun Avatar
71 months ago
I’m loving Spotify more than Apple Music. Discovering more songs and because of a promo where I live, I got it free for a year.

Apple Music layout is also an eye sore.

(was an Apple Music user for 2yrs)
So much this. Spotify is simply the better app and service, in almost every measureable metric. User interface, song discovery algorithms, features and controls, etc etc.

Anyone who says Apple Music is better is simply flat-out wrong, IMO.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aston441 Avatar
71 months ago
Oh now I understand why Apple won't allow third party streaming apps on the watch: Spotify

It's too bad. I'd love to have streaming TuneIn and Amazon Music on my watch.

Oh well.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WWPD Avatar
71 months ago
I tried Spotify but nothing about it warranted a switch from Apple Music. The fact that the Music app is built in and Siri integration is why I stay.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleWarMachine Avatar
71 months ago
and still no Spotify watch app :(
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tkermit Avatar
71 months ago
How many of you streamers had a music collection to begin with that you abandoned in favour of streaming?

I love the idea of streaming but it feels wasteful to abandon my collection.. I feel like I might just be better to keep buying cds/iTunes as

The only bummer for me is that sonos doesn’t stream purchased music from my phone as well as it does with streaming services
Apple Music is the best of all worlds to me. I've purchased about half of the songs in my collection, the other half got added through Apple Music for a total of about 30k songs. I don't see myself ever abandoning the (overwhelmingly lossless) tracks that I own. Nor have I stopped purchasing CDs and lossless downloads on Bandcamp etc. whenever I've discovered music of lasting value on Apple Music.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
applepuree Avatar
71 months ago
I prefer Spotify music discovery over Apple Music. I also find Apple Music mostly suggests American Rap and hip hop, both of which I don't like and therefore don't listen to. Strangely, Apple Music (al least on Homepod), can never find music I have bought via iTunes and have in my iTunes Match account.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...