Apple Music Is the World's Second Most Popular Music Streaming Service Behind Spotify

Apple Music is the second most popular music streaming service globally, but remains far behind Spotify in its continuing quest for streaming dominance, according to new market research.

Apple vs Spotify feature2
According to a new report by Midia Research, ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers made up 15% of all streaming service listeners in the global market in the second quarter of 2021, placing it in a distant second place behind Spotify.

Spotify remained the dominant service, commanding more than double that amount with 31% of the worldwide market share, although this represents a small drop from 33% in 2020. Amazon Music and Tencent Music both took a 13% market share, with YouTube Music making up 8% of subscriptions globally.

Spotify remains the DSP with the highest market share (31%), but this was down from 33% in Q2 2020 and 34% in Q2 2019. With Apple Music being a distant second with 15% market share, and Spotify adding more subscribers in the 12 months leading up to Q2 2021 than any other single DSP, there is no risk of Spotify losing its leading position anytime soon – but the erosion of its share is steady and persistent.

According to the report, Amazon Music again outperformed Spotify in terms of growth (25% versus 20%, respectively), however YouTube Music was the standout performer for the second successive year, growing by more than 50% in the 12 months leading up to the second quarter of 2021.

music streaming market 2021 midia
YouTube Music was the only service to increase its global market share during this the period, thanks to its popularity with Gen Z and younger Millennials, according to the report.

Google was once the laggard of the space, but the launch of YouTube Music has transformed its fortunes, growing by more than 50% in the 12 months leading up to Q2 2021. YouTube Music was the only Western DSP to increase global market share during this the period. YouTube Music particularly resonates among Gen Z and younger Millennials, which should have alarm bells ringing for Spotify, as their core base of Millennial subscribers from the 2010s in the West are now beginning to age.

Meanwhile, Apple continued to bolster its music streaming service in 2021 by adding support for Spatial Audio and Lossless audio at no extra cost to subscribers. The company also introduced a new subscription plan called Apple Music Voice that exclusively relies on ‌Siri‌ for music playback and user interaction.

The report notes that the global market for streaming music grew by 109.5 million by the end of Q2 2021 (around 26% year-on-year) and the total number of subscribers reached almost 524 million listeners.

Top Rated Comments

ZipZilla Avatar
28 months ago
Spotify's Mac desktop app is far superior to Apple Music on the app. It has a responsive, quick UI. It is easy to find things and songs stream immediately.

Apple Music, on the other hand, is slow and clunky, full of bugs and doesn't work half the time. It's the worst Mac App I use (and it's from Apple, on their own platform.)

I know people say this all the time, but it's true: Steve is spinning in his grave.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Agit21 Avatar
28 months ago
Funny how apple fans defend apple music because the artists are paid more. Meanwhile when talking about the ios app store fees they defend apple and talk about greedy developers :)
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dz5b609 Avatar
28 months ago
I would love to see total hours listened as a metric, because correct me if I'm wrong but the only reason Amazon music is on that list is because of it's inclusion in Prime not because anyone actually uses it.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HideAndSeek Avatar
28 months ago
I would love to see the numbers for individual countries. Here in Germany literally everyone uses Spotify.

There are only very few people using Apple Music who are deep into the Apple-Ecosystem.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TehFalcon Avatar
28 months ago
Meh. I actually prefer Apple Music, not only for its integration, but because it has everything I listen to, live radio, and great playlists...oh and lossless. Lets not forget Spotify also pays artists the least.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
swingerofbirch Avatar
28 months ago
The Apple Music app on macOS alone is a reason for me not to use Apple Music. I tried it recently and it became demonic. I signed into my Apple account so it showed all of my previous iTunes purchases. After hitting play, for some reason it would try to play a song then go instantly to the next one without actually playing it, and because there were music videos in the library it kept switching in and out of full screen mode on its own. It was an absolute mess of an experience. I kept hitting stop but it had taken over the computer and insisted on continuing to play the next song and would switch to full screen for a music video but then not play it and switch right out for the next song, which it also wouldn't play, going through thousands of old songs one after another and not playing any of them.

I remember there was a recent version of iTunes as well where just creating playlists (something Apple had perfected) was so convoluted. They either eliminated drag and drop or made it very confusing—I can't remember which. There was instead something with a Done button. I can't remember exactly. If you need a Done button to make a playlist, you've messed up.

Spotify on the other hand works much like Apple software used to. It just works. When you start dragging a song it's very clear where your targets are. Everything is a "link" you can drag and drop, whether in the search results or now playing section.

I really have no reason to pick one over the other based on the catalog (in fact given that I have old iTunes purchases, it should give Apple an edge), so it's a pretty bad testament that Apple's own first party software is so bad I would choose Spotify based on its superior software. I really don't understand how--not even considering large companies like Spotify--there are small companies with a few employees that make indie Mac software that is so much better than the native apps Apple puts outs. I don't do anything mobile so I can't compare the iOS apps. I'm a desktop luddite with an Airport Express connected to bookshelf speakers. Maybe too old school for Apple to care about as much.

And why is every app with Apple part of an OS update? Spotify updates constantly regardless of your OS version. Someone mentioned above Apple is retooling Apple Music with an OS update. Why are other developers able to just update their apps so seamlessly?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 16 Camera Lozenge 2 Perspective Gray

Five Key Upgrades Coming to iPhone 16

Friday March 15, 2024 1:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone is Apple's top-selling product, and it gets an update every year. In 2024, we're expecting the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineup, with an arguably more interesting feature set than we got with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Capture Button All four iPhone 16 models are set to get a whole new button, which will be...
When To Expect New iPads Feature 1

Apple to Announce New iPads on March 26, Rumors Claim

Monday March 18, 2024 4:02 am PDT by
Apple is widely expected to release new iPad Air and OLED iPad Pro models in the next few weeks. According to new rumors coming out of Asia, the company will announce its new iPads on Tuesday, March 26. Chinese leaker Instant Digital on Weibo this morning 日发布%23">claimed that the date will see some sort of announcement from Apple related to new iPads, but stopped short of calling it an...
airpods 3 orange

Two New AirPods 4 Models Expected to Launch in September or October

Sunday March 17, 2024 7:56 am PDT by
Apple suppliers will begin production of two new fourth-generation AirPods models in May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Based on this production timeframe, he expects the headphones to be released in September or October. Gurman expects both fourth-generation AirPods models to feature a new design with better fit, improved sound quality, and an updated charging case with a USB-C...
iphone se 4 modified flag edges

iPhone SE 4 Expected to Depreciate Heavily

Tuesday March 12, 2024 9:04 am PDT by
Resale value trends suggest the iPhone SE 4 may not hold its value as well as Apple's flagship models, according to SellCell. According to the report, Apple's iPhone SE models have historically depreciated much more rapidly than the company's more premium offerings. The third-generation iPhone SE, which launched in March 2022, experienced a significant drop in resale value, losing 42.6%...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

iOS 17.4.1 Update for iPhone is Imminent

Monday March 18, 2024 5:27 am PDT by
iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 should be released within the next few days, with a build number of 21E235, according to a source with a proven track record. MacRumors previously reported that Apple was internally testing iOS 17.4.1. As a minor update for the iPhone, it will likely address software bugs and/or security vulnerabilities. It is unclear if the update will include any other changes. ...
M3 iPad Feature 3

New iPads Likely to Begin Shipping in April

Monday March 18, 2024 9:52 am PDT by
Apple's new iPad Pro models with OLED displays will likely begin shipping to customers in April, according to information shared today by Ross Young, CEO of display industry research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also said the new iPad Pro models might not ship until "deeper" into April in his Power On newsletter on Sunday:I've repeatedly said that new...
iOS 17 Passkey With Apple ACCOUNT Feature

'Apple ID' Expected to Change to 'Apple Account' Starting With iOS 18

Sunday March 17, 2024 7:13 am PDT by
MacRumors was first to report that Apple was planning to rebrand "Apple ID" to "Apple Account" across its software platforms and websites like iCloud.com as early as this year, and now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has corroborated this change. A mockup of the new Apple Account branding In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new "Apple Account" branding will start to be used later this...