CLIP COURTESY OF SUMMIT.NEWS
MANCHESTER music legend Morrissey has called out the blandness of the music industry as Spotify revealed its most streamed songs of 2022.
In his first interview in seven years, the outspoken eighties music legend who was part of The Smiths – who sold over 4,030,000 albums worldwide, including 1,500,000 in the United States and 2,200,000 in the United Kingdom branded the word diversity “dreadful” and claimed the music industry manufactures stars so they can keep control of what they say.
The remarks came as former X-Factor and One Direction star Harry Styles’ hit ‘As It Was’ was named Spotify’s most streamed song of 2022.
The former One Direction star found himself at the top of the streaming platform’s rankings for listeners around the world, with his huge hit hitting close to 1.6 billion global streams.
Spotify unveiled its 2022 Wrapped campaign, and revealed its own stats for the top artists, songs, albums and podcasts.
As well as topping the songs list, Harry found himself seventh in the rankings for top artists globally, with Bad Bunny ruling the roost for a record breaking the third year in a row with more than 18 billion streams.
Bad Bunny’s album ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ tops the albums list just ahead of ‘Harry’s House’, while the former has three tracks in the songs list.
Meanwhile, ‘Anti-Hero’ hitmaker Taylor Swift is in second place for the global artist list, while she’s topping the charts for listeners in the UK.
Her new album ‘Midnights’ – which dropped last month – helped propel her to 805 million streams in the UK alone, with Drake, Ed Sheeran, Harry and Kanye West making up the rest of the UK’s top 5 artists.
Globally, Bad Bunny and Taylor are followed by Drake, The Weekend BTS, with Ed Sheeran and Harry just missing out in sixth and seventh place.
There are also plenty of love for new releases, with the UK’s top five albums all current releases, while Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Sour’ the only one over 18 months old.
For even more on the top lists of 2022, check out Spotify’s For the Record blog which will be live today at 1pm GMT, while users can now access their own personalised 2022 Wrapped experience via the Spotify mobile app.
Top Artists in the UK:
1. Taylor Swift
2. Drake
3. Ed Sheeran
4. Harry Styles
5. Kanye West
6. The Weeknd
7. Dave
8. Eminem
9. Arctic Monkeys
10. D-Block Europe
Top Songs in the UK:
1. As It Was – Harry Styles
2. Heat Waves – Glass Animals
3. Starlight – Dave
4. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) – Kate Bush
5. Seventeen Going Under – Sam Fender
6. Where Are You Now – Lost Frequencies
7. Afraid to Feel – LF System
8. Shivers – Ed Sheeran
9. Bad Habits – Ed Sheeran
10. Baby (feat. Ashanti) – Aitch
Top Albums in the UK:
1. Harry’s House – Harry Styles
2. = – Ed Sheeran
3. Encanto – Lin Manuel-Miranda
4. Sour – Olivia Rodrigo
5. Midnights – Taylor Swift
Top Artists Globally:
1. Bad Bunny
2. Taylor Swift
3. Drake
4. The Weeknd
5. BTS
6. Ed Sheeran
7. Harry Styles
8. Justin Bieber
9. Kanye West
10. Eminem
Top UK Artists Globally:
1. Ed Sheeran
2. Harry Styles
3. Dua Lipa
4. Coldplay
5. Adele
6. Arctic Monkeys
7. Queen
8. One Direction
9. Calvin Harris
10.Elton John
Top Tracks Globally:
1. As It Was – Harry Styles
2. Heat Waves – Glass Animals
3. Stay (with Justin Bieber) – The Kid Laroi
4. Me Porto Bonito – Bad Bunny
5. Tití Me Preguntó – Bad Bunny
6. Cold Heart (Pnau Remix) – Elton John and Dua Lipa
7. Quevedo: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52 – Bizarrap
8. Enemy (with JID) – Imagine Dragons
9. Ojitos Lindos – Bad Bunny
10. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) – Kate Bush
Top Albums Globally:
1. Un Verano Sin Ti – Bad Bunny
2. Harry’s House – Harry Styles
3. Sour – Olivia Rodrigo
4. = – Ed Sheeran
5. Planet Her – Doja Cat
