Swedish music streaming giant Spotify saw its user numbers peak last quarter, driven by the year-end “Wrapped” campaign, which included stats and listening highlights for users, and new features in its free tier.
The company said it saw a record 38 million new users in the fourth quarter, taking its total to 751 million monthly active users, 11% from last year. Paying subscribers increased 10% to 290 million in the quarter.
Spotify says the “Wrapped” campaign has resulted in more than 300 million users and 630 million social media shares in 56 languages.
Revenue reached €4.53 billion ($5.39 billion), about 7% more than a year ago, thanks to an 8% increase in subscription revenue. However, the company’s ad-supported business saw revenue decline by 4% to €518 million ($616.6 million). Gross margin, a key metric investors watch for signs of revenue growth at Spotify, increased 83 basis points to a record high of 33.1% as the company sold more ads for podcasts and music.
The strong performance comes as Spotify’s new co-CEOs Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström WILL TAKE the reins from co-founder Daniel Ek, and they will now manage a business that is much larger than what it was originally planned to do.
After launching as a pure-play music streaming service, Spotify has expanded its remit to include podcasts, audiobooks, and more. physical bookstores. It has been launched music videos in-app content as well as video podcasts, and doubled down on its retention strategy by adding social features such as groups chats and user authorization share what they listen to. You can even use Spotify to book tickets to concertsor exploring the story behind the songs.
The company has also added AI features such as a AI DJgenerated by AI playlistsand now users are allowed will not be included tracks from the recommended to help them better customize their listening.
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Profitability has been a big focus for Spotify in recent years, and the company is trying to achieve that by increase in subscription prices in the US and Europe. This too added new features to the free, ad-supported tier to attract more people from rivals such as YouTube Music and Amazon Music, allowing users to search and select the songs they want to listen to.
The company expects to reach 759 million users, and 293 million paying subscribers in the current quarter.







