Glossary / Streaming

Industry terms

Monthly listeners

Monthly listeners is the number of different people who played an artist's music on Spotify in the last 28 days.

Also called: Spotify monthly listeners

By Aulto · Last reviewed

Why does the number swing?

It's a rolling window. A playlist placement or a viral moment pushes it up fast, and it falls again once those listeners stop playing.

Is it the same as followers?

No. Followers chose to follow you and see your new releases. Monthly listeners just played something. A big gap between the two means many people hear you without connecting.

What's a better sign of fans?

Followers, saves and how many listeners come back. Monthly listeners measures reach, not loyalty.

Example

An artist goes from 8,000 to 90,000 monthly listeners after an editorial placement, then settles at 15,000, with followers up by 2,000.

  • Saves

    A save is when a listener adds a song or album to their own library, a strong sign they want to hear it again.

  • Superfan

    A superfan is one of the small group of fans who do the most: they stream on repeat, buy merch and tickets, and bring other people in.

  • Algorithmic playlist

    An algorithmic playlist is made automatically for each listener from what they play, like Spotify's Release Radar and Discover Weekly.

  • 30-second rule

    On Spotify, a play counts as a stream once someone has listened to a track for 30 seconds or more.

  • DSP

    DSP (digital service provider) is the industry's name for streaming services and digital stores, like Spotify, JioSaavn, Apple Music and YouTube Music.

  • Editorial playlist

    An editorial playlist is a playlist picked by a streaming service's own team of editors, as opposed to one generated by its algorithm or made by users.

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