The most streamed hardstyle artists on Spotify

At the start of every month, an eye-catching post appears on Reddit: a massive ranking of hardstyle artists, based on their current monthly Spotify listeners. The creator behind it, Joseph (better known as Crypehead), isn’t a label, booking agency, or algorithm, just a dedicated fan with a passion for both data and hardstyle.

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Since February 2024, his monthly post has been answering one simple but frequently asked question in the scene: who is currently the most streamed hardstyle artist? Thanks to Joseph’s efforts, we now have a surprisingly complete and up-to-date answer.

From Facebook likes to Spotify stats

The project’s origins go back more than a decade, when Joseph was producing hardstyle himself. “Back then, I looked at YouTube subscribers and Facebook likes to figure out who was popular,” he explains. “I tried to track that manually in Excel, but it turned out to be way too much work.”

It wasn’t until 2023, through his day job and the rise of ChatGPT, that he discovered tools to automate that kind of process. “I already had some basic coding knowledge, but now I learned how to automatically pull artist data from Spotify,” Joseph says. Using a smart script, he now gathers current listener data from hundreds of artists each month, which he then compiles into a clean, visual ranking. The system is now mostly automated. “The data collection takes about two hours, and then I spend a few more hours reviewing and formatting the final graphic.”

When does an artist qualify for the Hardstyle Producer League?

To be included in the monthly Hardstyle Producer League, Joseph uses two clear criteria: The artist must have released at least one hardstyle track in the past twelve months. And the artist must be primarily active in the hardstyle genre, not just occasionally crossing over.

“That keeps things fair,” he explains. “Some artists dabble in hardstyle from time to time but have most of their audience in other genres. Take Showtek, for example, they still have hardstyle tracks, but the majority of their streams come from EDM fans. Including them would skew the results.”

“The spreadsheet currently holds around 2,300 artists,” he adds. “But only about half of those actually produce hardstyle, and even fewer are still active. So I have to try to keep myself updated continually both through the script and sharp-eyed commentators.”

Reactions from te scene

Although the list is based purely on streaming data, it still occasionally sparks debate. “There are always people asking why Artist X is included and Artist Y isn’t, but overall, the feedback has been really positive,” Joseph says. “Especially for smaller producers, it’s motivating for them to see their names rise.”

Some artists even engage directly. “Mish and D-Charged have both left a comment on the post before, that kind of support really gives me the energy to keep going.”

Who are currently the most streamed hardstyle artists?

Last month (July), Brennan Heart was the most streamed artist in the hardstyle scene. With over 2.2 million monthly listeners, he topped the chart. The list also shows that TNT, Outsiders, and Sub Zero Project have all surpassed the 2 million mark as well. Below you’ll find the Top 100 hardstyle artists with the highest number of monthly listeners in July.

For the full list, check out Crypehead’s monthly post on Reddit.