Spotify Wrapped 2023: Top 10 highest earning songs of 2023 revealed
The highly-anticipated release of the 2023 edition of Spotify Wrapped on Wednesday has taken social media by storm, with millions of users unabashedly revealing snapshots of their listening habits.
Inspired by the growing trend, the experts sought to unveil how much the top-streaming artists of 2023 may have earned in royalties. To do this, the total play count of Spotify’s top 10 tracks and top 5 albums globally were inserted into a royalties calculator, Music Gateway, to uncover each track and album’s estimated earnings.
Spotify Wrapped 2023: Top 10 highest earning songs of 2023 revealed
| Rank | Track | Artist | Total number of plays | Approximate global listening time (in years) | Total estimated royalty earnings (USD) |
| 1 | Flowers | Miley Cyrus | 1,607,470,758 | 10,195 | $7,008,090 |
| 2 | Kill Bill | SZA | 1,482,849,305 * | 7,194 | $6,465,302 |
| 3 | As It Was | Harry Styles | 2,842,520,081 * | 15,053 | $12,393,539 |
| 4 | Seven (feat Latto) (Explicit version) | Jung Kook, Latto | 1,134,521,316 | 6,584 | $4,946,865 |
| 5 | Ella Baila Sola | Eslabon Armado, Peso Pluma | 992,899,550 | 5,195 | $4,329,350 |
| 6 | Cruel Summer | Taylor Swift | 1,402,514,173 * | 7,916 | $6,115,811 |
| 7 | Creepin’ (with The Weeknd & 21 Savage) | Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, 21 Savage | 1,076,006,566 * | 7,541 | $4,692,041 |
| 8 | Calm Down (with Selena Gomez) | Rema, Selena Gomez | 1,139,328,936 * | 8,635 | $4,968,165 |
| 9 | Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53 | Bizarrap, Shakira | 833,540,648 | 5,656 | $3,634,247 |
| 10 | Anti-Hero | Taylor Swift | 1,259,012,995 * | 7,985 | $5,489,311 |
Miley Cyrus’ hit single Flowers is Spotify’s highest earning song of 2023. The lead track off of Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation album, was the singer’s first new music since 2020’s Plastic Hearts. Flowers is the fastest song to surpass one billion streams on the platform (a feat achieved in just 112 days), and with a total of over 1.6 billion streams, the American artist has potentially earned a whopping $7,008,090 from royalties.
Cashing in at only $500,000 less, SZA’s Kill Bill comes in second with an estimated royalty earning of $6,465,302. Clocking over 1.4 billion plays to date, the singer went on to release a four song bundle of the single, including acoustic and sped-up versions – the latter of which was inspired by a user-created version which became a huge trend on TikTok. SZA also recruited fellow superstar Doja Cat for a featured version of the single.
Capturing the third spot is Harry Styles’ As It Was, which – despite being released in April 2022 – has been streamed more this year, to rise four places since last year’s Wrapped. The single smashed chart records in both the UK and US, potentially generating $12,393,539 in royalty earnings off of a staggering 2.8 billion streams since its release.
Spotify Wrapped 2023: Top 5 highest earning albums of 2023 revealed
| Rank | Album | Artist | Total number of plays | Total estimated royalty earnings (USD) |
| 1 | Un Verano Sin Ti | Bad Bunny | 15,001,688,920 * | $65,402,046 |
| 2 | Midnights | Taylor Swift | 7,330,559,095 * | $31,956,286 |
| 3 | SOS | SZA | 6,182,155,999 * | $26,950,025 |
| 4 | Starboy | The Weeknd | 12,399,407,233 * | $54,055,268 |
| 5 | MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO | KAROL G | 4,316,251,162 | $18,816,715 |
For the second year in a row, Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti takes the coveted top spot as most streamed album, as well as highest-earning. With over 15 billion streams, the Puerto Rican rapper and singer may have earned a staggering $65,402,046 in royalties.
Amid her slew of rerecorded albums, Taylor Swift’s new music release Midnights comes second, earning the star an estimated $31,956,286 from royalties.
Rounding off the top three is SZA’s SOS, from which her number two most streamed track, Kill Bill, hails. The artist’s sophomore album has potentially generated $26,950,025 in royalties.
Do check out: How to use Spotify Web Player in 2023?
