New study shows limited degrees of worldwide success for artists on Spotify.

Dan Kopf has published a study over at Priceonomics looking at 2014 data from Spotify relating to artists’ popularity in the United States and internationally.

Kopf’s data shows who broke through in the US but not abroad, who made it abroad but not in the US and who conquered both. And then there is Taylor Swift.



Click image to view.

According to Kopf’s it’s “no surprise the we find Taylor Swift at the very top right. She is the sole artist to both be number one in America, as well as the top 10 in more than 20 other countries. Big-piped singers Sam Smith and Ariana Grande are the only others that came close.”

While this study is limited to Spotify data it does show interesting differences between the artists that are popular only in America and internationally as well as the dominance of US and British acts across the world. As he points out, artists like Jeremih and Big Sean seemed to barely register outside of America.