“Then, at the exact right moment, Rema teamed up with Selena Gomez on a new version of the track.” “When Rema dropped the solo version of ‘Calm Down’ last year, it was doing really well in terms of streams, especially in Africa,” John explains. Such is the case with Nigerian afropop star Rema and American pop star Selena Gomez, who created a cross-continental connection on the 2022 hit “ Calm Down. And I think we see that reflected in the data on the platform and in the reaction on our playlists.” “Now it feels like it happens all the time, and there’s almost a level of expectation that artists are going to mix it up and work with artists from different spaces. “When the ‘Despacito’ remix came out, it felt like a huge and rare moment to have artists from such different backgrounds and genre spaces collaborate and experience such success,” John says. Spotify streams of Luis Fonsi in the U.S., U.K., and Canada combined spiked by more than 4,300% in the six months following the release of “Despacito,” with most of that increase coming after the remix dropped. Luis in particular saw his fame reach unforeseen heights, and in the six months following the release of the original version, streams of Luis Fonsi on Spotify jumped by more than 2,600% (compared to the six months prior).īut it was the remix, specifically, that helped to expand the Puerto Rican singer’s reach in English-speaking markets. ” In the six months following the song’s release, the increase in shared listeners between the two artists skyrocketed by nearly 390,000%.įor further proof, you can also look back to 2017, when Latin music icon Luis Fonsi joined forces with reggaeton godfather Daddy Yankee on “ Despacito.” The song quickly caught on with fans around the world, but its popularity went into overdrive and the song became an inescapable tour de force when Justin Bieber hopped on the “ Despacito (Remix) ” three months later. There are few examples that paint this picture more clearly than Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus uniting on “ Old Town Road – Remix. More than 50% of those same artists saw their number of streams grow by at least 50% in that same time period, while 30% saw their number of streams rise by at least 100%.Īnd while many of these collaborations are well received, some of them have been very well received. We took a look at more than 40 of the biggest crossover collaborations from the last 12 years and found that six months after the collab was released, 75% of artists involved saw an increase of at least 10% in overall Spotify streams across their catalogs compared to the six months prior. It’s easy to see why artists love this approach, but how do fans respond? Are they listening more on Spotify when they discover a new artist on one of these songs? “We see a lot more of these collaborations, and I think each artist’s core audience seems to be more open to these moments than in the past.” “I think one of the biggest things is how music collaborations can connect genres,” explains John Stein, Spotify’s North America Head of Editorial. While these collaborations offer new avenues for creative exploration, they also bring together each artist’s distinct fan bases, providing an opportunity for everyone involved to expand their audiences. 2 ,” and Taylor Swift and The National on “ The Alcott. More recently, we’ve seen major crossover collaboration moments from the likes of SZA and Phoebe Bridgers on “ Ghost in the Machine ,” PinkPantheress and Ice Spice on “ Boy’s a Liar Pt. Decades after its release, the song has racked up hundreds of millions of streams on Spotify to date. It also helped birth the rap rock subgenre and still stands as Run-D.M.C.’s biggest hit. linked up with Aerosmith in the ’80s to reimagine the latter’s single “ Walk This Way ,” it resulted in an international smash hit. It can even breathe new life into a song or group. When artists from different genres, regions, or simply different career stages bring their talents together on a track, it’s sure to capture fan attention. The crossover collaboration is one of music’s great traditions.

Spotify songs playlist export