New Delhi, 4 July

‘Tum Hi Ho’ singer Arijit Singh has edged past global pop stars Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran to emerge the most followed artist on music streaming platform Spotify with 151 million followers.

American singer Swift, one of the biggest names in the pop music circuit, is in second place with 139.6 million followers and Britain's Sheeran, who came out with his India-set track 'Sapphire' recently, is at number three with 121 million, according to the listing released by data tracking websites Chartmasters and Volt.fm this week.

The websites provide in-depth analysis of artists' commercial success, streaming data and overall popularity on Spotify.

With 114 million followers, Billie Eilish is fourth on the list. The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, is at number five with 107.3 million followers. The top 10 also includes Ariana Grande (105.9 million), Eminem (101.7 million), Drake (99.7 million), Bad Bunny (97.3 million) and Justin Bieber (83.1 million).

The other Indians who feature in the list are -- AR Rahman (14 with 65.6 million), Pritam (21 with 53.4 million), Neha Kakkar (25 with 48.5 million).

Late music legends Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar feature in the list at the 100th and 144th spots with 22 million and 16 million followers respectively.

The monthly count of listeners, however, throws up a different picture.

Though Spotify itself does not come out with data about the followers of musicians, the streaming service does show the number of listeners of every artist on its platform.

Arijit's listeners count is 47.4 million every month, while Swift's listeners stand at 82.3 million. Sheeran and Eilish have 98.4 million and 95.1 monthly listeners, respectively. The Weeknd has 112.2 million listeners.

Spotify listeners and followers represent two distinct yet equally important aspects of an artist’s audience.

Listeners refer to individuals who stream an artist’s music within a specific time frame, reflecting the reach and popularity of the music during that period. In contrast, followers are users who actively choose to follow the artist's profile, signalling a deeper level of engagement and interest in staying updated with their future releases, as per Spotify for Artists website.

Arijit's rise in the Indian music industry has been nothing short of meteoric. The 38-year-old started out as a contestant on reality show ‘Fame Gurukul’ in 2005 but broke into the big league eight years later with the soulful hit ‘Tum Hi Ho’ from ‘Aashiqui 2’ in 2013.

The success of the song made him a household name. After that, Arijit quickly became the voice of many moods, be it love, heartbreak or happiness.

Over the years, he has delivered a string of chartbusters, including 'Channa Mereya', 'Raabta', 'Kesariya', 'Phir Le Aaya Dil' and 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'.

Arijit recently announced that he will be performing live at London’s iconic Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, marking a major international concert event in his musical journey.