Spotify has reported first quarter 2026 earnings that met or exceeded expectations across all key metrics, with the company surpassing 760 million monthly active users and delivering its second highest gross margin to date.
Total revenue increased 14 percent year over year on a constant currency basis to €4.5 billion.
Premium subscribers grew 9 percent year over year to 293 million, while monthly active users climbed 12 percent to 761 million. Gross margin improved approximately 140 basis points year over year to 33 percent, with operating income reaching €715 million.
Alex Norström, Co-CEO of Spotify, addressed the quarter’s performance in the context of recent product changes. “We surpassed 760 million MAU, delivered on the subscriber growth we aimed to achieve, and saw healthy engagement from existing users, reactivations and new users alike.”
“Since the global rollout of our more personalized free experience, users in key markets like the US are listening and watching more days per month. All that reinforces our confidence in sustained user and subscriber growth, low churn, and continued progress on revenue and margin.”
Gustav Söderström, Co-CEO, framed the company’s position for future expansion. “We’re well positioned because of our large, engaged user base, deep creator relationships, and years of investment in personalization and infrastructure at scale.”
“Together, these create a platform that can take advantage of this moment and unlock entirely new growth vectors that will enable us to climb new mountains previously unimaginable. We see significant room to grow across users, formats and engagement and to expand what Spotify is and can become over time.”
Spotify introduced several new features during the quarter. Taste Profile, a beta feature rolling out to Premium listeners in New Zealand, allows users to see how Spotify understands their taste and shape it themselves, giving them the ability to steer what appears on their homepage.
Prompted Playlist expanded to Premium listeners across the United States and Canada and now includes podcasts alongside music.
SongDNA, rolling out to Premium users globally, offers a way to explore writers, producers, collaborators, samples, interpolations, and covers behind tracks.
About the Song, in beta in select markets, brings context to the listening experience through short, swipeable cards. Audiobook Charts launched in the United States and United Kingdom, providing weekly rankings of top audiobooks overall and by genre.
The company highlighted several artist focused initiatives during the quarter. Bad Bunny performed his first ever show in Asia at a Billions Club Live concert in Tokyo, with more than 2,300 fans in attendance. Spotify later released a concert film of the event.
BTS performed their first United States show in four years at Pier 17 in New York City as part of the Spotify x BTS SWIMSIDE campaign, with more than 1,000 fans attending.
Spotify reported that it paid the music industry more than $11 billion in 2025, bringing its all time total to nearly $70 billion. The company stated it remained the highest paying retailer globally based on its annual Loud & Clear report.
The company introduced new ad formats and tools including Sponsored Playlists, Carousel Ads, Split Testing, and Automated Bid.
Spotify also supported the launch of B LINE, a 24/7 mental health and crisis support line created exclusively for the United States music community, in partnership with Backline. The service is available to artists, their teams, and their families.
