This is the time of year many of us have been waiting for. No, it's not Christmas or New Year's Eve—it's Spotify Wrapped season. On November 19, the streaming giant provided subscribers with individual listening statistics from the past year, revealing Spotify users' favorite songs, albums, podcasts, and more. Meanwhile, Spotify has also revealed the most streamed music and artists of 2022, with the past year's biggest hits rounding out the top five in the UK.
This year, Harry Styles' "As It Was" has been played 1.5 billion times globally and has been officially named the most listened to song in the UK in 2022 by Spotify. Glass Animals' Brit Award-nominated single "Heat Waves" came in at number two, while Dave's "Starlight" came in at number three.
Before the release of Stranger Things Season 4, not many would have predicted that Kate Bush's 1985 single "Running Up That Hill" would become a top 10 contender on Spotify this year. However, thanks to the Max vs Vecna scene, the 1980s hit ranked fourth on Spotify's most popular songs in the UK this year.
Following the Stranger Things feature, there was renewed interest in the song, and "Running Up That Hill" reached new heights in the UK and beyond, debuting at the top of the UK Official Singles Chart. As of August 2022, Spotify also revealed that Bush's song had been played 45 million times in the UK alone this summer. Speaking in June 2022, Bush described the song's popularity as "very exciting," adding that her 1985 single had been "given a whole new life by young fans."
As for other songs in Spotify's top 10, Sam Fender's "Seventeen Going Under" is the fifth most streamed song in the UK in 2022, while Lost Frequencies' "Where Are You Now" and LF System's "Afraid To Feel” ranked second. Ranked sixth and seventh respectively. Ed Sheeran came in eighth and ninth with "Shivers" and "Bad Habits," while Aitch & Ashanti came in at No. 8 with "Baby." (Baby) cracked the top ten.
