2022 was a historically volatile and unpredictable year in currency exchange rates. The U.S. dollar (USD) strengthened relative to nearly every other major currency at a level not seen in decades — the USD appreciated over 12% in 2022 (based on the nominal broad dollar index).
Spotify’s artist community is particularly global, generating royalties across dozens of currencies. 72% of Spotify subscribers are outside the US and Canada, and 35% of artists who generated at least $10,000 in 2022 on Spotify come from outside the top ten music markets.
For consistency, we continue to report all our royalty data on this site in USD — converting all revenue numbers from local currency to USD. As a result, the growth rate from 2021 to 2022 for some revenue thresholds can appear lower than past years — due to major changes in currency conversion, not changes in business growth. (Spotify’s Premium subscriber base grew 14% year-over-year to 205 million, and monthly active user totals grew 20% year-over-year to 489 million.)
As an example of the impact of currency volatility on reporting:
- The number of artists generating $1 million (USD) grew from 1,040 in 2021 to 1,060 in 2022 (up 2%).
- The number of artists generating €1 million (Euro) grew from 880 in 2021 to 1,000 in 2022 (up 13%).