Watch Hayley Kiyoko and Troye Sivan Light Up The World With Pride
During summer’s celebration of LGBTQ Pride, music plays a big role. After all, it’s one of the most powerful mediums for personal expression, and songwriting in particular can take a rallying cry and turn it into art.
Here at Spotify, with over 170 million listeners globally, we have the unique ability to literally take the musical pulse of multiple continents at any given moment. We can tap into that rallying cry, expressed through music, and watch it undulate across the globe.
So what have we discovered, from a musical perspective, during Pride season? Simply stated, when there is a Pride parade, there are epic bursts of music. On Spotify, fans have made over half a million Pride/LGBTQ-themed playlists, and they stream throughout the summer, as celebrations sweep from one country to the next.
Our data scientists have captured that excitement here with a visual timelapse map and two playable audiographics (just click on the map and listen to the artists!) that show how Spotifiers celebrate Pride—and the songs that bring it to life.
Here, we looked at anonymous listens to those playlists in countries with Spotify on each day during last year’s Pride season, and put them on the map below. We’re sure that 2018 should be just as loud and proud.
And if you’re wondering which artists appear most frequently in American playlists (those with the acronym LGBTQ are generally created in the United States), check out the interactive map below.
When it comes to listening, LGBTQ-themed playlists are streamed most in Europe and the Americas. Here are the top artists included on lists in those countries.
Which musicians dominate Pride globally? Well, Brazilian drag star Pabllo Vittar appears the most in LGBTQ playlists created in Brazil. And in Europe, Troye Sivan dominates in Estonia, Italy, and Lithuania; Lady Gaga rules in Iceland, Poland, and Portugal; and relative newcomer Hayley Kiyoko claims the top spot in the rest of Europe, most of the Americas, and the majority of the US, despite releasing her debut album only a few months ago (March 2018).
Check out all of these inspiring anthems and plenty more on the Spotify Pride hub.
Tableau visualizations by Spotify Data Visualization designer Skyler Johnson.