Top 10 most streamed artists in the UAE in 2020

What have people been listening to in the UAE? Spotify and Deezer have shared their 2020 data for the country, revealing all the top streamed songs, albums and artists in your neighborhood. So, grab your speakers and give these hit records a whirl…

BTS is the most-streamed artist in the UAE on Spotify. The K-pop group are followed by Travis Scott, while, the third most streamed act of the year is Drake. In fourth and fifth place are late rapper Juice WRLD and alt-R’n’B crooner The Weeknd.

Meanwhile on Deezer, The Weeknd and Billie Eilish held the top two spots in the UAE, followed by Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber and BTS. In tenth place, rapper Eminem managed to make his mark.

Completing the Top 10 most-streamed artists in the UAE on Spotify, are XXXTENTACION in sixth place, Justin Bieber (pictured) in seventh, Taylor Swift in eighth, Ariana Grande in ninth and Billie Eilish in 10th.

The top streamed female artist of the year on Spotify is Taylor Swift (pictured), followed respectively by Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Halsey.

Completing the top ten spots for female artists on Spotify, from sixth to tenth, are Camila Cabello (pictured), BLACKPINK, Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga and Doja Cat.

Roddy Ricch’s (pictured) catchy track ‘The Box’ is the most-streamed song this year in the UAE on Spotify. After that comes The Weeknd’s earworm ‘Blinding Lights’, followed by Trevor Daniel’s ‘Falling’. The fourth and fifth most streamed songs of 2020 are ‘Dance Monkey’ by Tones and I and ‘Blueberry Faygo’ by Lil Mosey.

While Deezer listeners played much of the same songs in 2020, there were a few differences — Maroon 5’s ‘Memories’ landed in fifth place, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s hit collaboration ‘Senorita’ held ninth place, and Billie Eilish’s ‘Bad Guy’ rounded up the list at ten.

From sixth to tenth place, the top-streamed tracks in the UAE on Spotify are ’Don’t Start Now’ by Dua Lipa (pictured), ‘ROCKSTAR (feat. Roddy Ricch)’ by DaBaby, ‘ROXANNE’ by Arizona Zervas, ‘Roses - Imanbek Remix’ by Imanbek and SAINt JHN, and ‘Someone You Loved’ by Lewis Capaldi.

The Weeknd’s (pictured) album ‘After Hours’ may have been snubbed by the Grammys, but it takes the No 1 spot on Spotify with the most number of streams in the UAE in 2020. Late rapper XXXTENTACION follows with his album ‘?’, then Post Malone’s ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding’, late rapper Pop Smoke’s ‘Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon’ and BTS’ ‘Map of the Soul: 7’.

The Weeknd may have been Deezer’s top-listened artist in 2020, but when it came to albums, it was Billie Eilish’s debut album ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ that nabbed the top spot this year. The Weeknd’s ‘After Hours’ came in second place, and Eminem again made the list at fourth place with ‘Music to Be Murdered By’.

On Deezer, Elissa was the only Arab artist to make the list with ‘Sahbit Raey’. More Top 10 albums on Deezer included Selena Gomez’s Rare’ and Ed Sheeran’s ‘No 6 Collaborations Project’.

More albums that did well and made it to the Top 10 on Spotify are Roddy Ricch’s ‘Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial’, Harry Styles’ ‘Fine Line’ (pictured), Juice WRLD’s ‘Legends Never Die’ and Dua Lipa’s ‘Future Nostalgia’.

Interestingly, Spotify found that February 13 was the most musical day of the year in the UAE — a day before Valentine’s.

In comparison, the global most-streamed artists on Spotify are Bad Bunny (pictured), Drake, J Balvin, Juice WRLD and The Weeknd.