Ever wondered which city in the UK has the best music scene of them all? Researchers at Replay Poker have analysed the music fan bases of the UK’s most populated cities to discover which artists have the greatest popularity.

Their research considers the size of each artist’s fan base according to Spotify’s audience insights and estimates how much an artist earns per year from a city based on the average number of times that a fan would stream an artist per month.

Most popular artists in Swansea on Spotify fan base

• We’ve discovered the most famous artists in each UK city based on the estimated size of their local fan base. Ed Sheeran ranked as Birmingham’s top artist with an estimated 6,190 fans in Swansea (269 per 10k people)
• Taylor Swift ranked as the 2nd most popular artist in Swansea with 3,470 fans and Eminem ranked as Swansea’s 3rd most popular musician with 3,430 fans. 

How much are these artists earning from their fanbase in Swansea?  

• The average European Spotify user listens to 99 minutes of music per day. If we assume a fan of each artist listens to an act for just 99 minutes per month, then the likes of Ed Sheeran can generate £8,832 per year in equivalent Spotify earnings in Swansea where he has an estimated reach of 6k fans.
• Taylor Swift, the 2nd most listened to artist in Swansea, makes an estimated £4,951 from her Swansea fanbase and Eminem, Swansea’s 3rd most popular musician makes around £4,894 from his Swansea fans. 

Methodology 

• Our analysis of the most popular and highest-earning artists in each of the UK’s 32 most populated cities. Artist fan bases were calculated per 10,000 of a city’s local population size.
• The number of fans per artist in each city was sourced from Spotify’s Ad Studio. By targeting the maximum possible reach for fans of specific artists, we were able to discover the estimated size of each artist’s fan base in each major UK city, according to Spotify listeners. 
• The total estimated earnings each artist makes per year from their fans in each city is based on the following calculation:
  • The average Spotify user in Europe streams 99 minutes of music per day
  • 99 minutes divided by the average length of a song on Spotify (3 minutes 19 seconds) equals 29 songs
  • A fan streaming 99 minutes at least once per month listens to 348 songs a year
  • 348 streams multiplied by the number of fans per location equals the number of songs listened to in one year per location per artist
  • That figure multiplied by Spotify earnings per stream equals total artist earnings per city