The graph above shows the number of Monthly Active Users (MAUs) of Spotify from 2016 to 2022. Spotify is an online music streaming platform, which has experienced rapid growth in its user base in recent years. The number of Spotify MAUs in 2022 grew 20% compared to the previous year. In 2022, Spotify had 489 million MAUs compared to 406 million in 2021. Out of the total MAUs, the number of premium subscribers in 2022 was 205 million compared to 180 million in the previous year.
Number of Spotify Monthly Active Users 2016-2022
The following table shows the number of Spotify’s Monthly Active Users. The numbers are in millions.
| Year | MAUs (millions) |
| 2022 | 489 |
| 2021 | 406 |
| 2020 | 345 |
| 2019 | 271 |
| 2018 | 207 |
| 2017 | 160 |
| 2016 | 124 |
Spotify is the world’s largest online music streaming network with a strong global presence. The company offers its services across 184 countries and territories as of the end of 2021 compared to 93 at the end of 2020. Spotify’s user base has also grown at an impressive rate in 2021 compared to the prior year. In 2021, the total number of Spotify’s Monthly Active Users increased to 406 million compared to 345 million in 2020.
At the end of 2021, Spotify had 180 million premium subscribers and 236 million ad based users. In 2021, the number of Spotify MAUs increased by 18% compared to the prior year. Its premium subscribers increased 16% in 2021 compared to the prior year.
The premium subscribers of the company are its leading source of revenue and accounted for € 8,460 million in 2021 compared to € 7,135 million in 2020. Ad supported users accounted for €1,208 million in 2021 compared to €745 million in 2020. The total revenue of Spotify increased 23% in 2021 compared to the prior year. Spotify generated € 9,668 million in 2021 compared to € 7,880 million in 2020. Its premium revenue increased 19% in 2021 compared to the prior year while revenue from ad based users increased 62%. Consolidated gross margin of Spotify in 2021 was 27% compared to 26% in 2020.
While the number of premium subscribers of the company has continued to increase over the past three years its average revenue per premium user has continued to decline. The decline can mainly be attributed to the diverse price mix the company uses worldwide for its various markets. Pricing is mainly based on purchasing power of consumers in the different geographic regions.
In 2021, the company has expanded into several new markets including those in the Asia Pacific region. Its premium ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) for 2021 was € 4.29 which was relatively flat compared to the prior year when the premium ARPU was € 4.31. In 2019, the premium ARPU of the company was € 4.72 and from 2019 to 2020, the premium ARPU had declined by 19%.