What’s a good baseline to determine if an album is a success, even for huge artists? 1 billion streams? 2 billion? Spotify continues to grow globally so this barometer may change, but as of today, what is it? 

Depends on when the album was released.

3 minutes ago, lovemehateme said:

Depends on when the album was released.

Let’s go with recent releases, like from 2020-present 

10 billion, something Dua has 2 of 

It has to be over 2 billion to be considered a success and more than half of its streams shouldn't come from the biggest single.

i think 5 billion+ streams when it’s all said and done for an a-list artist

Depends. If it has hit singles 2 billion, if it doesn't have hit singles i find 1 billion to be very solid. 

 

but it's important to say that if the hit single is not just a "hit single" and it's a SMASH HIT with like 1.5billion and the album just crossed 2billion, well, then it wasn't successful. Non-singles have to be streamed too for it to be successful. 

10B

Album tracks reaching 85-100,000 streams.

 

Just having singles have a lot streams is not a metric for a hit album 

Depends on the genre & the artist

 

But if talking Pop Girls, 2 Billion seems right for minor success. 3 Billion is solid success

Getting the average streams of non-singles is a pretty good indicator of an album's success.

In 2023, 3 billion after a year for an A list.

Hit album: 75M streams per track discounting the most streamed song and the least streamed one

 

Smash album: +100M streams per track discounting the most streamed track and the least streamed one

10 minutes ago, Armani? said:

Depends on the genre & the artist

 

But if talking Pop Girls, 2 Billion seems right for minor success. 3 Billion is solid success

I think this is good. I was gonna say 2-3 billion should be considered a success 

It changes every year. In 2023 i would say 

 

For an album released in post 2020 4.5-5B +

 

released in 2017 - 2020 3.5-4.5B

released in 2012 - 2016  2.5-3.5B

 

pre 2012 back to early 200Os 1.5B - 2.5B 

 

90S and 80s 1-1.5B

 

for album released before the 80s 1B streams is already a big achviement

Edited March 3, 20233 yr by vale9001

Depends on the artist and when the album is released.  
 

If a new Carly Rae Jepson album got 1 billion streams that would be great.  However if a new Billie Eillish album only got 1 billion it would not be doing that well.  
 

I think right now, for an A list musician, hitting 4 billion in the first 2-3 years is a “success”, and 8 billion in the first 2-3 years is a blockbuster era.  Or something like that. 

10B 

Some of these standards are way too high for most artists. Y'all maybe mean like a smash album from the most successful artist at the present time

 

But just a hit or successful album, I'd say 1 billion after one year is pretty good 

 

I agree it depends on context though, if a single is HUGELY successful and close to 1 billion on its own, then increase it by another half a billion to 1 billion lol

 

 

If each track has at least 200M streams. 

2-4 Billion 

14 minutes ago, byzantium said:

Depends on the artist and when the album is released.  
 

If a new Carly Rae Jepson album got 1 billion streams that would be great.  However if a new Billie Eillish album only got 1 billion it would not be doing that well.  
 

I think right now, for an A list musician, hitting 4 billion in the first 2-3 years is a “success”, and 8 billion in the first 2-3 years is a blockbuster era.  Or something like that. 

This

 

Some of these responses are ridiculous.  There aren't even that many albums that reach 5B, let alone 10. The thread refers to successful albums, not blockbuster eras of which there are only a handful every decade. 

 

Anyway, it obviously depends on the context but any album that reaches 2.5/3B is a huge success.

Edited March 3, 20233 yr by ninasayers

Honestly 1 Billion for a mainstream act.

 

Not many even pass 2 billion.  
 

People suggesting 3, 5 or 10 billion are insane

2 minutes ago, Trent W said:

Honestly 1 Billion for a mainstream act.

 

Not many even pass 2 billion.  
 

People suggesting 3, 5 or 10 billion are insane

This really isn’t much tho, most hits nowadays get to 1B streams

Just now, Cain said:

This really isn’t much tho, most hits nowadays get to 1B streams

For a niche genre it’s a lot. A rapper, dj or band doing that with no hits or radio is insane.

 

For a pop star with label and radio support maybe 2 billion.