Streaming music online has become the trend nowadays. Not many people purchase CDs anymore and instead of downloading the songs into our devices, we prefer to just use streaming applications like YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, etc.

Spotify has become the most preferred music streaming app as it allows us to play the music while we multitask. As of June 2017, Spotify achieved more than 140 million active users!

Have you ever wondered who the top artists were? According to Koreaboo, here’s the top 10 most listened to artists KPOP edition.

10. EXID – 888,583 monthly listeners

Initially, the group suffered trying to breakthrough to success as their reception was only lukewarm. Everything seemed to be spiralling downwards and the EXID even faced the possibility disbanding until a clip of Hani’s sexy dance went viral.

Of course, this girl group’s hottest song would be Up & Down, the song which shot them to fame. Currently, Up & Down has got a total of 22,292,948 plays.

 

9. MONSTA X – 913,483 monthly listeners

This boy band differs from most new KPOP groups today as their music style is more towards hip-hop and electronic dance music (EDM) instead of the usual pop songs.

Because most of their songs are like this, most of their songs have millions of listens each. So far, their most famous song on Spotify is Beautiful with 10,618,171 plays.

 

8. KARD – 923,725 monthly listeners

KARD is the youngest KPOP band in this top 10 list. They officially debuted in July, 2017 and in less than a year, they’ve already got millions of ears listening in to their songs.

Aside from being a rookie group, they are also one of the very rare coed groups around. They have two male members; J.Seph and B.M, and two female members; Somin and Jiwoo.

Their hottest song is Don’t Recall with 20,815,375 plays while the second most listened to song is Oh NaNa with 20,758,899 plays!

That’s really close to each other.

 

7. WINNER – 973,845 monthly listeners

For the longest of time, YG Entertainment did not debut any new boy bands ever since Big Bang. Finally, this group was formed after they came in as champions in a reality competitive show called WIN: Who is Next.

Hence, their name WINNER.

The group has garnered a great following and fans’ favourite song would have to be REALLY REALLY with 22,719,190 plays.

 

6. SEVENTEEN – 1,117,010 monthly listeners

SEVENTEEN is a boy group consisting of thirteen members. This group has got three sub-units; Hip-Hop Unit, Vocal Unit and Performance Unit.

The boys are also very deeply involved in the composition and choreography of their songs. Seeing as both Don’t Wanna Cry and VERY NICE have got more than 20 millions plays on Spotify, they are definitely doing something right.

 

5. Big Bang – 1,609,238 monthly listeners

Big Bang is the oldest group out of all the groups on this list. Since their last album MADE was released in 2016, the group has not delivered any new songs since.

However, being one of the bands responsible for spreading KPOP internationally, their music is still being streamed up until today.

BANG BANG BANG comes in top spot with 57,072,169 plays while songs like FXXK IT, Fantastic Baby and LOSER have more than 25 million plays too.

Most of their songs including the older ones have got loads of plays further proving their success.

 

4. BLACKPINK – 1,727,766 monthly listeners

When BLACKPINK first debuted, many people thought that they are just a newer version of 2ne1. Though it isn’t such a bad comparison since 2ne1 was also such a successful group, the girls still faced a lot of scepticism initially.

Of course, they have proven to be their own group through their EDM style of music as well as adding rap into it.

Four out of five of their singles have got more than 44 million plays on Spotify! Their hottest song, BOOMBAYAH, has got a total of 54,605,071 plays thus far.

 

3. EXO – 1,733,771 monthly listeners

EXO originally debuted in 2011 with 12 members and they have two sub-units; EXO-K for Korean audiences and EXO-M for Chinese audiences.

However, after Chinese members Kris, LuHan and Tao filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment to nullify their contracts in 2014 and 2015, EXO continued to promote as one team with 9 members.

Regardless, their songs have been highly successful with every one of their songs reaching millions of plays. The current fan favourite would have to be Monster with 43,348,711 plays.

 

2. Red Velvet – 1,795,908 monthly listeners

Powerful vocals, catchy beats and fun lyrics – there is no wonder why Red Velvet is such a hit musically. Their adorable looks, trendy fashion sense and wonderful choreography has also earned them top spots in various sectors.

Initially a quartet consisting of Irene, Seulgi, Wendy and Joy, the group became an instant hit. The following year, SM Entertainment decided to add Yeri into the group into a quintet.

Their song Russian Roulette topped their Spotify chart with 26,552,900 plays while a majority of their songs have millions of plays too.

 

1. BTS – 6,873,603 monthly listeners

Bangtan Sonyeondan, Bangtan Boys, Bulletproof Boy Scouts or best known as BTS is the world’s current favourite boy band.

Initially, BTS started out with mediocre reception. They faced moderate success and went on to continue with many people questioning their possibility of ever being a hit.

Thankfully, the group finally got the attention they deserved in 2015 after their song Blood Sweat & Tears caught the attention of Asian fans. Critics attributed their breakthrough to the members’ involvement in the production of their music.

From composing their songs to choreographing their own dance moves, the boys have shown their true talents through everything they do together and as solo artists too.

They achieved worldwide recognition after collaborating with Steve Aoki and Desiigner for a remix of their song MIC Drop. Consequently, other songs DNA and Blood Sweat & Tears also became extremely popular in the United States of America.

Their current top songs on Spotify are:

DNA – 95,260,422
Blood Sweat & Tears – 91,016,173
MIC Drop (feat. Desiigner) [Steve Aoki Remix] – 72,292,847

 

Are you contributing to these stats? If you’re not streaming their music on Spotify yet, then it’s time to download that app and add these tracks to your playlist.