It’s been a very good year for hip-hop, according to Spotify, with the online music platform sharing its most streamed artists list of 2018 which, unsurprisingly, shows Drake at the top of the pile.

The Canadian mega-star rapper racked up an incredible 8.2 billion streams over the last 12 months – that is, more than there are people in the entire world – fuelled by the summer release of his latest album Scorpion. Following him in the list of the biggest streaming artists are fellow rappers Post Malone and the late XXXTENTACION, Colombian reggaeton artist J Balvin and British superstar Ed Sheeran.

At one point, his fifth studio album was clocking up 10 million streams every single hour, so it can’t be any shock that Scorpion has wound up as the biggest-streaming album of the year. Post Malone's Beerbongs & Bentleys comes in second, with XXXTENTACION's ? and Dua Lipa's self-titled debut studio album following behind. In fifth place is Ed Sheeran, whose third album Divide topped the same list in 2017.

DrakeDrake is the most streamed artist in the world in 2018

Drake is also top of the most-streamed track of the year list, with Scorpion single ‘God’s Plan’ topping with over 1.1 billion streams and ‘In My Feelings’ in fifth. XXXTENTACION and Post Malone filled in the gaps in second, third and fourth with ‘SAD!’, ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Psycho’ respectively.

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Meanwhile, off the back of her recent album Sweetener in August, Ariana Grande has topped the list of 2018’s most streamed female artists, followed by the aforementioned Dua Lipa, American rapper Cardi B, Taylor Swift and former Fifth Harmony member Camila Cabello.

The most-streamed group of 2018 list makes for interesting reading too. Running with Spotify’s definition of a ‘group’ as consisting of three or more members, Imagine Dragons grabbed the number one spot, having released their fourth album Origins last month.

Following behind them is K-Pop sensation BTS at number two, Maroon 5 at number three and the rap trio Migos in fourth. Coldplay, who topped this particular list back in 2017, are fifth this time around.

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