Billie Eilish follows The Weeknd and Taylor Swift in reaching the milestone of surpassing 100 million monthly listeners on the digital music, podcast and video service. At 22, she becomes the youngest to do so.
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Billie Eilish has become the third music star to reach the 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and he has achieved it with a list of 82 songs.
The 22-year-old singer, winner of two Oscarsfollows The Weeknd, who leads the ranking with 107 million monthly listeners on the music, podcast and digital video service platform, and Taylor Swift, who has 102 million monthly listeners through Spotify.
The Weeknd and Taylor Swift have more than twice as many songs on Spotify as Eilish, since the latter only has 82 songs on the platform. The American has also made history by being the youngest to reach 100 million monthly listeners.
Jeremy Erlich, global director of music at Spotify, has spoken about this achievement in ‘Billboard’ magazine. “Spotify has been part of Billie Eilish’s story from the beginning. Since ‘Ocean Eyes’, it has not stopped increase your number of followers Worldwide. What she, and her brother and collaborator, Finneas, have achieved since 2016 is remarkable. All this at the age of 22.”
Eilish currently has eight songs on the so-called ‘Billions Club‘ from the platform: ‘Lovely’ with Khalid (2.8 billion views to date), ‘Bad Guy’ (2.5 billion), ‘When the Party’s Over’ (1.8 billion), “Everything I Wanted” (1.6 billion), “Ocean Eyes” (1.4 billion), “Happier Than Ever” (1.3 billion), “Idontwannabeyouanymore” (1.09 billion) and “Bury a Friend” (1.01 billion).
Their third album, ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’, was released in April and follows ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’, and their second album, ‘Happier Than Ever’.
Earlier this year, Eilish joined big names in music including Stevie Wonder, Robert Smith, Nicki Minaj and over 200 artists to sign an open letter calling for an end to the “predatory use” of artificial intelligence, AI, in the music industry. The letter, while acknowledging the creative possibilities of new AI technology, notes: “Let us make no mistake. We believe that, when used responsibly, AI has enormous potential to advance human creativity, and in a way that enables the development and growth of exciting new experiences for music fans everywhere.”
“Unfortunately, some platforms and developers are employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artistssongwriters, musicians and rights holders. When used irresponsibly, AI poses enormous threats to our ability to protect our privacy, our identities, our music and our livelihoods,” the artists say in the letter.
This has led some of the world’s biggest record labels to sue two AI startups, Suno and Udio, for alleged copyright infringement. In this historic case it is alleged that new companies are exploiting artists’ recorded works on an “almost unimaginable” scale.
The Recording Industry Association of America announced lawsuits filed by record labels including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records earlier this week. They allege that the Suno and Udio software steal music to carry out similar works, and ask for compensation of 150,000 US dollars, about 140,000 euros, per work.
