Metal Bands Compared by Spotify Monthly Listeners, August 2021 Rankings
Every month we take a look at Spotify’s ‘monthly listeners’ counts for several hundred metal bands and compare them side by side to gauge their relative popularity at any given moment. For more on why we’re doing this column and the methodology behind it, read this.
The numbers for August are in (sorry we’re a week late; I was on vacation!), and the pace of growth continues to slow down compared to earlier in the year, with only a third (116) of the 349 artists listed showing increases in listenership month over month from July. Of those artists who did experience drops, it’s worth noting, they were small in comparison with previous gains.
Some of the biggest gainers in the metal world over the past month included:
- Hatebreed (23.35%)
- Attila (25.41%)
- Blind Guardian (20.63%)
- Eluveitie (23.55%)
- Korpiklaani (21.54%)
- Born of Osiris (33.01%)
- Kreator (25.79%)
- Devin Townsend (24.90%)
- Metal Church (38.10%)
- Scar Symmetry (30.43%)
- Wintersun (25.24%)
- Eyes Wide Open (21.22%)
- Rivers of Nihil (47.46%)
- Aborted (21.87%)
- Pelican (22.55%)
- Spirit Adrift (55.01%)
- Cave In (35.72%)
- Melechesh (25.41%)
Artists who saw the biggest drops:
- Red Fang (24.30%)
- At the Gates (22.29%)
- Vola (22.10%)
- Mr. Bungle (21.04%)
- Darkthrone (33.92%)
- Nothgard (20.60%)
These rankings, it must be stated, are not comprehensive: the bands included on our list were chosen manually, and it is absolutely the case that many bands aren’t included (please email [email protected] if you’d like to see them added next month). For that reason, we haven’t numbered these rankings: to do so would disingenuously give the appearance this is a comprehensive list, which it is not.
You can view the most recent chart numbers, along with the entire history of these charts, in the embed below or here.
