The highly-anticipated release of Spotify Wrapped 2022 last week has taken over social media by storm, with millions of users unabashedly revealing snapshots of their listening habits.
Along with a staggering 1,525% spike in searches for “Spotify Wrapped” over the past week, the experts were intrigued to unveil how much the top-streaming artists of 2022 could have earned in royalties. To do this, the total play count of Spotify’s top 50 tracks globally was inserted into a royalties calculator, Music Gateway, to uncover each track’s estimated earnings.
Spotify Wrapped 2022: Top 10 highest earning songs revealed
| Rank | Track | Artist | Total number of plays | Approximate global listening time (in years) | Total Estimated Royalty Earnings ($) |
| 1 | Blinding Lights | The Weeknd | 3,276,095,650 | 20,741 | $13,580,171.99 |
| 2 | Stay (with Justin Bieber) | The Kid LAROI, Justin Bieber | 2,243,561,004 | 10,066 | $9,300,077.76 |
| 3 | Heat Waves | Glass Animals | 2,136,660,694 | 16,168 | $8,856,951.33 |
| 4 | Watermelon Sugar | Harry Styles | 2,020,898,252 | 11,142 | $8,377,089.31 |
| 5 | Sweater Weather | The Neighbourhood | 1,840,275,005 | 13,995 | $7,628,364.30 |
| 6 | good 4 u | Olivia Rodrigo | 1,675,419,357 | 9,460 | $6,944,999.62 |
| 7 | As It Was | Harry Styles | 1,603,198,750 | 8,473 | $6,645,628.54 |
| 8 | INDUSTRY BABY (feat. Jack Harlow) | Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow | 1,587,895,264 | 10,657 | $6,582,192.07 |
| 9 | Bad Habits | Ed Sheeran | 1,338,222,969 | 9,795 | $5,547,242.82 |
| 10 | Cold Heart – PNAU Remix | Elton John, Dua Lipa, Pnau | 1,257,611,378 | 8,081 | $5,213,089.19 |
The Weeknd’s 2019 hit single Blinding Lights continues to reign supreme as Spotify’s top-grossing song of 2022. Inspiring a TikTok dance craze during lockdown, the 80s-tinged track is the fastest in Spotify history to reach three billion streams, potentially earning the Canadian artist a whopping $13,580,171 from royalties.
Cashing in around four million fewer, The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s Stay comes in second with an estimated royalty earning of $9,300,077. Clocking over 2.24 billion plays to date, the Australian rapper’s first chart-topper has been listened to for over 10,000 years collectively on Spotify!
Capturing the third spot is Glass Animal’s Heat Waves which became an earworm thanks to a slowed-down version of the song that went viral on TikTok – potentially generating $8,856,951 in royalty earnings off of a staggering 2.13 billion streams.
Taking fourth place with an estimated haul of $8,377,089 is Harry Styles’ 2019 single Watermelon Sugar. The singer’s biggest hit As It Was – released only this year – sits at the seventh spot ($6,645,628) amassing an impressive 1.6 billion plays so far.
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