In the second quarter of 2026, Spotify reached a historic milestone by surpassing the 300 million Premium subscriber mark for the first time. This makes it the first audio streaming service to achieve this number of paying users. The company also reported a record gross margin and accelerated revenue growth.
In total, the number of Premium subscribers increased by 7 million to 300 million. The total number of monthly active users (MAUs) reached 777 million, an increase of 16 million compared with the previous quarter.
Quarterly revenue rose by 14% to €4.78 billion, while net profit came to €545 million. The gross margin also reached a new record at 33.4%.
Spotify attributed the strong performance to the continued growth of its subscription business and the introduction of new features that enhance the user experience. For example, the company launched Reserved, which gives fans earlier access to concert tickets, and it is experimenting with personalised AI podcasts and AI features for music creation and remixing.
For the third quarter, Spotify expects growth to continue. The company is counting on around 305 million Premium subscribers, 788 million monthly active users and revenue of approximately €5 billion.
Spotify is currently expanding its app with an AI chatbot that helps users discover music, podcasts and audiobooks. The new feature is available to Premium subscribers and makes it possible to give commands via text or voice, create playlists and receive recommendations based on personal listening behaviour. The rollout has started as a beta in the United States, Ireland and Sweden.
A striking addition is that the chatbot also provides insight into a user’s own listening behaviour. For instance, you can ask when a track was first played, how often an artist has been listened to, or which genres have been listened to most in recent times. The recommendations are based on, among other things, playlists, favourite artists and the user’s listening history.
With this introduction, Spotify is taking a further step in expanding AI features within its platform. Previously, the streaming service added, among other things, an AI DJ, AI-generated playlists and other smart recommendation features. At the same time, Spotify is working on measures to better control the growth of AI-generated music on the platform.
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