Can you believe it’s already been six years since Spotify launched in Australia? And to celebrate Spotify has just released a comprehensive Six Year in Review which reveals the music we love the most and the events that inspired our music choices.
The review tracks which artists Australians have streamed the most, our favourite albums, the most popular tracks and the key moments in global culture and how they impacted what we listened to.
The standout Australian artists in six years have been Flume – he was the most streamed Aussie artist followed by Sia whose song “Cheap Thrills” was the fifth highest Aussie song streamed.
When Spotify launched in Australia in 2012, the total songs streamed equated to 55 lifetimes.
Today that streaming figure is the equivalent of 1,090 lifetimes.
Alicia Sbrugnera, Head of Shows & Editorial at Spotify AUNZ, says: “Music has the power to shape culture, and Australians’ streaming habits are showing just that.
“With history being made daily, the involvement of music to shape these moments will only increase as Spotify continues to grow in Australia.”

Here are the global cultural moments that influenced our music choices:
2012 –Spice Girls reunion at the London Olympics
Streams of the Spice Girls tracks were 3.5x higher (249 per cent) than the week before the opening ceremony, with classics “Wannabe – Radio Edit” and “Spice Up Your Life” taking the top spots.
2013 – The Harlem Shake took the country by storm
As a country, Australia streamed Baauer’s Harlem Shake the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest 30 times.
2014 – British band Coldplay hitting the Sydney streets for their music video “A Sky Full Of Stars”
Aussie streams of Coldplay increased 10.3% across the country during the making of their music video.
2017 – #MeToo movement was born
#MeToo created a sense of unity amongst women globally, empowering them more than ever. In a sign of solidarity, Aussie streams of female artists in the months following increased by 4.5 per cent.
2018 – Festival fomo hit hard at Coachella #Beychella
Beyoncé stunned crowds at Coachella earlier this year with Aussies streaming over nine return trips to Mars of Beyoncé from Down Under while she reclaimed the stage at Coachella this year.
Top 10 Aussie artists streamed globally from 22 May 2012 to 1 May 2018
- Sia
- AC/DC
- Flume
- 5 Seconds of Summer
- Vance Joy
- Iggy Azalea
- Troye Sivan
- Tame Impala
- Hillsong United
- Keith Urban
Top 10 streamed Aussie artists in AU from 22 May 2012 to 1 May 2018:
- Flume
- Sia
- Hilltop Hoods
- Vance Joy
- Angus & Julia Stone
- Bliss n Eso
- RÜFÜS DU SOL
- Peking Duk
- Tame Impala
- Chet Faker
Top 10 streamed Aussie albums in AU from 22 May 2012 to 1 May 2018:
- Vance Joy – Dream Your Life Away
- Flume – Skin
- Sia – This Is Acting
- Flume – Flume
- Hilltop Hoods – Drinking From The Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung
- RÜFÜS DU SOL – Bloom
- Chet Faker – Built On Glass
- Tame Impala – Currents
- Starley – Call On Me
- Hilltop Hoods – Walking Under Stars
Top 10 streamed Aussie tracks in AU from 22 May 2012 to 1 May 2018:
- Flume – Never Be Like You
- Flume – Say It
- Starley – Call On Me – Ryan Riback Extended Remix
- Vance Joy – Riptide
- Sia – Cheap Thrills
- Hilltop Hoods – 1955
- Pnau – Chameleon
- Illy – Papercuts (feat. Vera Blue)
- Peking Duk – Stranger
- Amy Shark – Adore
Top 10 streamed Aussie female artists in AU from 22 May 2012 to 1 May 2018