10 Most Popular Music Streaming Services in 2017

That earworm you just heard (and have been humming for half the day) is likely brought to you by one of the 10 most popular music streaming services in 2017.

As of the end of 2016, the total number of paid subscriptions on the various music streaming services around the world reached 100 million, according to MIDiA Research, a music-centric research agency. This milestone is important, because the 100 million figure is commonly mentioned as the mark at which point a certain service is considered widespread. Having 100 million people paying for a service means there is a lot of money to go around, and in the case of music streaming providers, a multitude of ears to stream music to.

The large consumer base for streaming music, regardless of platform, bodes well for the industry’s prospects in the future. After all, while there are 7 billion more people to offer streaming to, having 100 million will certainly help in the process of gaining more subscribers. In addition, reaching the milestone resulted in increased investor interest in these services, which translates to a potential increase in money to spend to grow that customer base. After all, streaming music revenue grew by 49% in 2016 to reach $5.4 billion, with subscription services accounting for $2.5 billion of that total.

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As for which of these music streaming service is better than the others, we compared some of the most popular services in a piece entitled Apple Music vs Pandora vs Spotify vs iHeartRadio & More: The Best Music Streaming Service Right Now. Be sure to check it out.

For the purposes of this list, we’re defining music streaming as the delivery of on-demand, playable music through the internet. Some of these services offer fully customizable playback, with options for creating your own cloud-based online playlist, while others stream a pre-packaged slate of radio stations based on genre, mood, artist, or other categorizations.

The leading online music streaming services release subscription and listenership figures using different time periods and methods. Some services unveil these numbers regularly, while others, mainly private platforms, or even those owned by public but highly secretive companies, only release estimates sporadically. In other cases, the figures come from estimates by third party tech-centric analysts.

Nonetheless, subscription and listenership figures for the 10 most popular music streaming services in 2017, which includes Amazon Music Unlimited and Amazon Prime Music from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple Music from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Deezer, iHeartRadio from iHeartMedia Inc (OTCMKTS:IHRT), Napster, Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P), Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube from Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), are all as of late-2016 or early-2017.

Check out the list of the most popular music streaming services in the world beginning on the next page.

10. Tidal

At its height, Tidal reported having 3 million paying subscribers in March 2016. But the (mainly) artist-owned streaming service extensively promoted by Jay Z was recently accused of inflating subscription numbers, with the actual number for March 2016 estimated at 1.2 million activated accounts. As of December 2016, the platform has about 1 million subscribers, according to MIDiA research.

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9. Amazon Music Unlimited from Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

While exact figures are unavailable as of the moment, Amazon Music Unlimited from Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is estimated to be used by 13% of the 14 million Amazon Echo users, according to MusicWatch. That equates to 1.8 million users since the Echo-centric device was launched in October 2016.

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8. Napster (formerly Rhapsody)

Having changed its name from Rhapsody in June 2016, Napster (yes, the name of that former music piracy website) is back in the music business as a less dubious enterprise. The music streaming platform has 4.5 million paying customers as of December 2016, according to MIDiA research.

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7. Amazon Prime Music from Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon Prime Music from Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), the next on our list of most popular music streaming services in 2017 is in 15% of the 102.5 million broadband households in the U.S, research firm Parks Associates estimated in February 2017. That translates to just over 15 million households.

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6. Deezer

French music streaming service Deezer has spread to more than 180 countries since its launch in 2007. As of January 2017, the platform has 16 million monthly active users, including 6 million paying subscribers.

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5. Apple Music from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

We are continuing our list of most popular music streaming services in 2017 with Apple Music from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), the tech giant’s latest venture into the music industry it changed a decade ago with iTunes, that has 20 million subscribers as of December 2016. Apple exec Eddy Cue said in February 2017 that the user base for the service is well past the 20 million mark, so it appears the start to 2017 has been a strong one for the service.

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4. Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P)

Internet radio veteran Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) has been at it since 2000 and has grown its service in the U.S, Australia, and New Zealand. The company has around 81 million monthly active listeners as of February 2017, including 4 million paying subscribers.

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3. iHeartRadio from iHeartMedia Inc (OTCMKTS:IHRT)

Online radio service iHeartRadio from iHeartMedia Inc (OTCMKTS:IHRT) has 90 million registered users. The service claims that it has 250 million listeners in the U.S across its radio stations, but we’ll count only the subscribers on its online platform.

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The next two companies on this list of the 10 most popular music streaming services in 2017 have hit more than 100 million users globally, making them the most influential purveyors of streaming music around.

2. Spotify

The startup, next on our list of most popular music streaming services in 2017 that became synonymous with music streaming had more than 100 million users as of March 2017. Out of those, 50 million are paying subscribers, while the others use the platform’s ad-supported service.

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1. YouTube from Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

We usually think of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s YouTube as more of a video platform, but the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said last year that 82% of YouTube users mainly access it to stream music. And with 900 million worldwide users in 2016 (and that’s a conservative estimate), the number of those music streamers reached about 738 million, putting YouTube on top of this list of the 10 most popular music streaming services in 2017.

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