Skip to main content

Spotify predicts Grammy winners using song and album streaming data

predict the grammys
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Social media is constantly pitching itself as a method of market predictions, thanks to the intense amount of consumer conversations its home to. And now, streaming service Spotify says that thanks to its data on our listening habits, it’s able to predict this year’s Grammy winners. 

Recommended Videos

With over 20 million subscribers and 5 million paying customers, Spotify can break down its users’ music listening habit – using song and album streams – to get a small snapshot of music popularity. This sampling, according to Spotify, offers a pretty accurate look at who will end up taking home some statues this Sunday night. 

Of course, if you’re familiar with the Grammys, the awards are garnered based on the votes from colleagues in the recording industry. Even if a song is considered to be “popular,” it may not necessarily grab a nomination or necessarily win an award. You might remember Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun publicly lashing out on Twitter last month for the Grammys failing to recognize Bieber as an award nominee. Braun cited Bieber selling 2 million copies of his album Believe and creating three top ten singles on the Billboard charts as the source of his frustration with the Grammys.

So with this in mind, while Spotify has made five predictions leading up the most prestigious music awards, really it’s up to Grammy voters to ultimately decide the winners. The data might say one thing – but the recording industry may not agree. 

Either way, the following are Spotify’s predictions for this year’s Grammy winners:

  • Gotye for Record of Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with chart-topping hit ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’
  • Mumford & Son’s folk album ‘Babel’ for Album of the Year
  • The Lumineers for Best New Artist over Fun., Frank Ocean, and Alabama Shakes
  • Carly Rae Jepsen’s catchy hit ‘Call Me Maybe’ for Best Pop Solo Performance
  • Carrie Underwood’s ‘Blown Away’ for Best Country Song

Keep these predictions in mind if you watch the Grammys this Sunday, February 10 – or if you want to put your prediction abilities to the test, Spotify is asking users to predict the winners using its “Predict the Winners” app, which is also gifting a winner tickets to the 2014 Grammys.

Francis Bea
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Francis got his first taste of the tech industry in a failed attempt at a startup during his time as a student at the…
How to download music from SoundCloud on desktop and mobile
Soundcloud Interface on a Macbook.

If you're a die-hard music fan, you probably keep a curated library of playlists packed with your favorite artists and albums on Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever your favorite music streaming app is. But how do you discover the best indie artists today? Some music-streaming platforms are better than others at celebrating the ‘unsung gem’ acts, but one of the most reliable forums for new, off-the-grid tunes is SoundCloud.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has always prioritized music that’s a bit under the radar. With over 320 million tracks in its library, the platform will even let you download a majority of its songs and albums.

Read more
The best kids headphones of 2025: for fun, safety, and sound
Two kids using the Puro Sound PuroQuiet Plus to watch something on a tablet.

Kid-friendly consumer tech is all the rage these days, so it’s no surprise that there’s an entire market of headphones designed exclusively for young ones. But when we think “kid-friendly,” sometimes we imagine products that are built to be a bit more throwaway than their adult counterparts. That’s not the case with the products on our list of the best headphones for kids, though.

We want our child-tailored headphones to include parental-controlled volume limiters, to ensure our children aren’t harming their eardrums. Pretty much every entry on our list checks this vital box, but we also wanted to point you and yours toward products that offer exceptional noise-canceling, built-in mics for phone and video calls, and long-lasting batteries for schooldays or a long flight.

Read more
How to master your equalizer settings for the perfect sound
An equalizer from eqMac.

Casual listeners might boot up Spotify or turn on the radio to listen to music without giving the balance or sound stage much thought. Audiophiles on the other hand like to dig a bit deeper and customize their experience. One common way to tinker with how music sounds is adjustments to the equalizer, which offers the freedom to tweak every aspect of the sound booming out of headphones or speakers. Even some streaming services now have built-in EQs, giving you more ways than ever to play with your music and find something that best fits your ears.

Shaping the equalizer to your preferences can be daunting to newcomers, as there are tons of cryptic settings you can manipulate. And if you mess with the wrong one, your sound quality might take a nasty hit. Thankfully, learning the basics isn't too difficult.

Read more