Over 200 Metal Bands Ranked By Their Spotify Monthly Listener Counts (December 2019)

Welcome back to our monthly column in which we take a look at the publicly available Spotify “monthly listeners” counts and compare a couple of hundred metal bands, hand-picked by yours truly, side by side. For more on why we’re doing this column, read this.

This month we introduce a new feature: arrows indicating whether a band’s total number of monthly listeners went up since last month (↑), down (↓), or stayed the same (→). If no symbol is shown, this is the first time we’ve included the band on this chart. Where a band’s numbers from last month are listed in parentheses, their monthly listener count experienced a significant shift from month to month.

Interestingly, the vast majority of bands at the top of our list (the more popular ones) saw decreases in monthly listenership since November, while bands in the bottom half were more likely to see an increase. Make of that what you will, be it seasonal patterns, industry trends at large or what have you — feel free to speculate in the comments.

Here are the numbers for December which, crucially, are not comprehensive: these are bands I decided to look up manually, and it is absolutely the case that many popular 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.

Linkin Park: 17.02 million ↑ (last month: 16.74 million)
AC/DC: 16.64 million ↓
Guns N’ Roses: 16.40 million ↓
Metallica: 13.99 million ↓
Foo Fighters: 10.45 million ↓
System of a Down: 8.34 million ↓
Van Halen: 7.86 million ↓
Kiss: 7.44 million ↓
Disturbed: 7.31 million ↓
Black Sabbath: 6.89 million ↓
Slipknot: 6.83 million ↓
Ozzy Osbourne: 6.58 million ↑
Rage Against the Machine: 6.15 million ↑
Limp Bizkit: 5.90 million ↓
Rammstein: 5.77 million ↑
Iron Maiden: 5.26 million ↓
Avenged Sevenfold: 5.20 million ↑
Motley Crue: 5.06 million ↓
Korn: 4.98 million ↓
Bring Me the Horizon: 4.96 million ↑
Five Finger Death Punch: 4.77 million ↑
Whitesnake: 4.68 million ↓
Marilyn Manson: 4.67 million ↓
Def Leppard: 4.60 million ↓
Soundgarden: 4.51 million ↓
Breaking Benjamin: 4.34 million ↓
Shinedown: 4.33 million ↑
Alice in Chains: 4.09 million →
A Day to Remember: 4.00 million ↑
Volbeat: 3.58 million ↓
Stone Sour: 3.55 million ↓
Motorhead: 3.37 million ↓
Godsmack: 3.25 million ↓
Pantera: 3.12 million ↓
Tool: 3.09 million ↓
Poison: 2.84 million ↓
Judas Priest: 2.81 million ↓
Bad Wolves: 2.75 million ↓
Megadeth: 2.67 million →
Nine Inch Nails: 2.51 million ↓
Faith No More: 2.41 million ↑
Skid Row: 2.38 million ↓
Asking Alexandria: 2.24 million ↓
Deftones: 2.13 million →
Killswitch Engage: 2.05 million ↑
Rob Zombie: 2.00 million ↓ (last month: 2.45 million)
Dio: 1.87 million →
Slayer: 1.86 million ↑
Ghost: 1.81 million ↑
Alter Bridge: 1.77 million ↓
Sabaton: 1.70 million ↓
Halestorm: 1.68 million →
Trivium: 1.61 million ↓
Atreyu: 1.55 million ↓
Nightwish: 1.49 million ↑
Escape the Fate: 1.43 million
In Flames: 1.42 million ↓
Mudvayne: 1.41 million ↓
Dragonforce: 1.36 million ↓
All That Remains: 1.32 million ↓
Within Temptation: 1.30 million ↑
Parkway Drive: 1.29 million ↑
Lamb of God: 1.26 million ↓
In This Moment: 1.22 million ↓
Machine Head: 1.20 million ↓
Dream Theater: 1.19 million ↑
Motionless in White: 1.11 million ↓
Amon Amarth: 1.08 million ↓
Static-X: 1.06 million ↓
Anthrax: 1.05 million ↓
Danzig: 998k ↓
Gojira: 997k ↑
Airbourne: 970k ↑ (last month: 753k)
Sepultura: 951k ↑ (last month: 842k)
Misfits: 949k million ↓ (last month: 1.30 million)
Mastodon: 947k ↑
Coheed & Cambria: 935k ↓
Ratt: 908k ↓
White Zombie: 901k ↓
Sevendust: 898k ↓
Amaranthe: 880k ↑
Architects: 844k ↑ (last month: 751k)
Hellyeah: 819k ↓
Hammerfall: 714k ↓
August Burns Red: 704k ↑ (last month: 578k)
Opeth: 695k ↓
Children of Bodom: 685k ↓
Lacuna Coil: 678k ↓ (last month: 783k)
Living Colour: 657k ↑
Alestorm: 656k ↑
Arch Enemy: 652k ↓
Manowar: 637k ↓
Hatebreed: 600k ↓
Clutch: 590k ↑
Babymetal: 583k ↓ (last month: 745k)
Fear Factory: 583k ↓
Issues: 578k ↓
Insane Clown Posse: 550k ↓
Suicidal Tendencies: 539k ↓
Testament: 531k ↓
Steel Panther: 521k ↓
Eluveitie: 519k ↓
Sonata Arctica: 518k ↑
Skindred: 514k ↓
Type O Negative: 490k ↓
Suicide Silence: 474k ↑ (last month: 387k)
Epica: 473k ↓
Blind Guardian: 470k ↑
Northlane: 460k ↑
Meshuggah: 457k ↓
Thy Art is Murder: 448k ↑
Polyphia: 445k ↑
Death: 444k ↑
Refused: 438k ↓ (last month: 515k)
Jinjer: 436k ↓ (last month: 500k)
Korpiklaani: 435k ↑
Dethklok: 431k ↑
Whitechapel: 427k ↓
After the Burial: 411k ↑

Periphery: 403k ↑
Demon Hunter: 399k ↑
Attila: 397k ↑
Soulfly: 384k ↓
DevilDriver: 383k
Light the Torch: 367k ↑
Cradle of Filth: 361k ↓
Tursias: 365k ↑
Chon: 353k ↑
Avatar: 349k ↑
Soilwork: 340k ↓
Cannibal Corpse: 333k ↑
Exodus: 331k ↑
Dimmu Borgir: 298k ↑
Chelsea Grin: 296k ↑
King Diamond: 296k ↑ (last month: 233k)
Knocked Loose: 292k ↑ (last month: 253k)
Emmure: 280k ↑
Animals as Leaders: 277k ↑
New Years Day: 272k ↑
Kreator: 270k ↑
The Ghost Inside: 268k ↑
Corrosion of Conformity: 257k ↑
Down: 256k ↑
Veil of Maya: 256k ↓
Born of Osiris: 249k ↑
Mercyful Fate: 244k ↑
Overkill: 243k ↑
Baroness: 235k ↑
Ensiferum: 230k ↑
Cattle Decapitation: 229k ↑ (last month: 162k)
Venom: 223k ↑
Norma Jean: 222k ↓
Devin Townsend: 222k ↑
Fit For An Autopsy: 222k ↓
Devin Townsend Project: 221k
Red Fang: 219k ↑
Dark Tranquillity: 214k ↓
Code Orange: 210k
Insomnium: 204k
Plini: 201k ↑
Between the Buried and Me: 198k ↑
The Black Dahlia Murder: 196k ↑
Tesseract: 192k →
Sleep: 188k ↓
Mayhem: 187k ↓ (last month: 221k)
3Teeth: 185k ↑
Rhapsody of Fire: 174k →
Kvelertak: 171k ↑ (last month: 99k)
The Contortionist: 170k →
Carnifex: 169k ↓
The Browning: 168k ↑
Death Angel: 167k ↑
Rotting Christ: 164k ↑ (last month: 139k)
At the Gates: 163k ↓
Alien Weaponry: 155k ↑
Chimaira: 142k ↓
Deicide: 140k ↑
Dying Fetus: 135k ↑
Satyricon: 135k ↑
Unearth: 125k ↓
Municipal Waste: 124k ↓ (last month: 156k)
Immortal: 124k ↑
High on Fire: 123k ↑ (last month: 111k)
Deafheaven: 123k ↑ (last month: 111k)
Shadows Fall: 121k →
Carcass: 119k ↑
Converge: 117k ↑
Myrkur: 116k →
The Acacia Strain: 116k ↑
Entombed: 114k
Darkthrone: 111k ↓
Celtic Frost: 109k ↓
Bloodbath: 108k →
Gwar: 107k ↓
Lorna Shore: 107k ↑ (last month: 58k)
Cult of Luna: 101k ↓
Fleshgod Apocalypse: 94k ↓
Emperor: 90k →
Havok: 87k →
Within the Ruins: 84k ↓
The Agonist: 83k →
Enslaved: 80k
The Ocean: 80k ↑ (last month: 70k)
Septicflesh: 74k ↑
Oceano: 71k →
Isis: 70k ↑
Brutus: 67k ↑ (last month: 55k)
Torche: 65k →
The Faceless: 66k ↑
Revocation: 61k ↓
Neurosis: 60k ↓
Allegaeon: 60k ↓
Crowbar: 60k ↑
Rivers of Nihil: 59k →
Darkest Hour: 58k ↓ (last month: 96k)
Warbringer: 56k ↓
Abbath: 55k ↑
Gatecreeper: 54k
Pig Destroyer: 51k ↓
Ihsahn: 49k ↑
Eyehategod: 48k
Vein: 47k ↓
Dyscarnate: 45k ↑
Yob: 44k ↑
Cynic: 42k ↓
Cave In: 35k →
Black Crown Initiate: 27k ↓
Triptykon: 17k ↑
Spirit Adrift: 15k ↑
Venom Prison: 15k ↑

By contrast, here are the numbers some modern pop and hip hop artists are sporting:

Ed Sheeran: 63.04 million ↓
Maroon 5: 50.00 million ↑
Billie Eilish: 51.16 million ↑ (last month: 42.34 million)
Drake: 44.69 million ↑ (last month: 40.51 million)
Kanye West: 34.85 million ↓
Taylor Swift: 37.99 million ↑
Katy Perry: 39.69 million ↓
Eminem: 30.59 million ↓
Beyonce: 28.68 million ↓
The Weeknd: 35.01 million ↑ (last month: 24.99 million)
Wiz Khalifa: 20.03 million ↓
Kelly Clarkson: 20.20 million ↑ (last month: 12.66 million)
Dr. Dre: 9.58 million ↑
Carrie Underwood: 5.45 million ↑
Nipsey Hussle: 4.32 million →