Ariana Grande, the singer became the No.1 artist in the world, in terms of Spotify monthly listeners, surpassing The Weeknd for the coveted spot, on Wednesday (Dec.24). 

She currently has over 123.82 million monthly listeners — her career peak — on the audio streaming service for December.

With her return to the top, Grande is now the first woman to achieve this feat five separate times. In fact, no other female artist has led the monthly listeners chart more than twice.

While Grande has always been one of the top artists streamed, her listeners significantly increased during the month of December due to her Christmas catalogue, with her 2014 hit “Santa Tell Me” earning its biggest day on Spotify’s Global Charts on Christmas Eve with 16.09 million streams globally.

Grande is currently followed by Justin Bieber with 120.9 million monthly listeners and The Weeknd with 120.26 million monthly listeners.

When news of Grande’s Spotify record made it to social media, fans congratulated the singer and actress for the landmark achievement.

“123.8 million and still the voice of a literal angel,” wrote one user on X. “She’s officially the GOAT right now. Can anyone beat this, or is the throne hers forever?” said another.

“123.8 MILLION monthly listeners… at this point Spotify is basically Ariana’s personal radio station,” added a third. “That’s massive. Longevity plus constant relevance is what puts her at the very top, not just one hit cycle.” said a fourth.

Others pointed out that Grande may have gotten a bump from the release of Wicked: For Good. The film’s soundtrack was released on streaming platforms on Nov. 21 — the same day as the movie’s theatrical debut.

While the soundtrack featured classics from the musical like “Every Day More Wicked,” “Wonderful,” “No Good Deed,” and the duet “For Good,” the movie also premiered an original new song sung by Grande’s Galinda, titled, “The Girl in the Bubble.”

Source: Parade 

--Agencies