Top 30 Australian Spotify music stars and the royalty cash they make

These are the bankable 30 Aussie music stars that are right on the top of Spotify’s global impact list and how much they make in royalties for songs that dominate the streaming wars.

Pop queen Kylie may have reclaimed her crown as one of Australia’s biggest creative exports over the past 12 months but a raft of underground niche artists and electronic music superstars are eclipsing even her success on the global stream scene.

Mysterious Melbourne hip hop artist Lithe has topped Spotify’s Global Impact List which reveals the most streamed tracks from homegrown artists outside of Australia for the first half of 2024.

The enigmatic producer, who obscures his face in his social media posts and videos, has blown up worldwide over the past six months with his viral hit Fall Back.

Leah Harris, the Artist and Label Partnerships Lead at Spotify, said Lithe has been on the platform’s radar since 2021 when he started uploading songs he created during Melbourne’s brutal Covid lockdowns.

Melbourne rapper Lithe. Picture: Supplied.

“His big moment came when Fall Back went viral and was added to a number of playlists in April this year, generating 200,000 streams on Spotify per day,” Harris said.

“From there, his music really took off globally moving through Europe, particularly Germany and France, as well as Canada, UK, and the US.”

Lithe has converted his streaming numbers to box office gold, with tickets to his recent tour snapped up as soon as they went on sale.

Another artist on the weighted Global Impact List at No.4 is Lebanese-Australian producer Tobiahs, whose euphoric dance pop anthem Lifetime was championed by influential international hitmakers Diplo, Pete Tong and Tiesto after a video of the song from his live set scored nine million views before he finally released the track in January.

He has sold out shows not only in Australia but London and Berlin and his new single Alone is quickly following Lifetime to become a streaming hit with over a million plays in a couple of weeks.

Another mysterious Aussie artist with a huge international following is “phonk” star Arxmane who has more than 4.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Phonk has become a wildly popular subgenre of hiphop and trap music on streaming and social media platforms.

Our biggest pop exports continue to prove to be stream dreams on Spotify with the Kylie and Sia’s duet Dance Alone making the top 10, Tame Impala with two tracks they worked on with French dance duo Justice, 5 Seconds of Summer at No.3 for their David Guetta collaboration on Lighter and the Kid Laroi also with two songs on the list.

Kylie Minogue is on the streaming charts. Picture: Instagram @kylieminogue

Dom Dolla is also raking in the cash. Picture: Getty

Other electronic heroes such as Dom Dolla, Empire of the Sun, Timmy Trumpet and Luude are also streamed more overseas than at home.

“We definitely believe we are punching above our weight in this genre,” Harris said.

Australian singer-songwriter Sia still rocks the charts. Picture: Getty

“Australian producers Dom Dolla, Tobiahs, Lithe and Arxmane are just a few of the names

featured in our Australian Global Impact List that are making waves internationally,

but there is also Pretty Girl, Logic 1000, CYRIL and Mallgrab who are making their

mark.

“It is the golden age of electronic music and Australians are right up there with

the best of them.”

Aussie muso PNAU are up there too. Picture: Cybele Malinowski

Covers figure strongly in the current global impact top 30.

The viral return of British pop star Sophie Ellis Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor was propelled by two different reboots, with Sydney duo Royel Otis claiming international acclaim with their Triple J performance of the song, and the remix by Sydney superstars PNAU – behind Elton John and Dua Lipa’s enduring earworm Cold Heart, also generating millions of streams.

Other covers include Somebody (2024), the reinvention of Gotye and Kimbra’s 2011 worldwide smash Somebody That I Used To Know by a team featuring Grammy nominated, Gold Coast superstar DJ Fisher.

Coming in at No.30 is beloved artist Emmanuel Kelly whose song My Sky enjoyed a big boost after he was announced as one of the opening acts for Coldplay’s stadium shows in November.

Kelly and Chris Martin have become good mates over the years with the Aussie artist joining them on stage in Melbourne in 2017 to singe Imagine.

Originally published as Top 30 Australian Spotify music stars and the royalty cash they make