Sources: Apple Music has been growing at a monthly rate of 2.6% to 3% and had 28M US users in Feb., compared to Spotify's 26M US users and growth of 1.5% to 2%
Apple Music overtakes Spotify … Yoni Heisler / BGR : Apple Music now has more subscribers in the US than Spotify Jack Purcher / Patently Apple : The Momentum is Shifting as Apple Music overtakes Spotify in terms of Paid U.S. Subscribers Kif Leswing / CNBC : Apple Music has reportedly passed Spotify in paid subscribers in the US Evan Selleck / iPhone Hacks : Apple May Separate iTunes With New Music and Podcast Apps for macOS Peter Kafka / Recode : Apple has sold lots of music subscriptions — so it thinks it will sell lots of other stuff, too Jules Wang / Android Police : Apple Music surpasses Spotify in U.S. subscribers, outpacing growth globally Sarah Perez / TechCrunch : Apple Music cuts prices in India Shawn Knight / TechSpot : Apple Music surpasses Spotify in paid US subscribers Maria Deutscher / SiliconANGLE : Report: Apple Music has vaulted past Spotify in US with 28M paid subscribers William White / InvestorPlace : Friday Apple Rumors: Apple Music Passes Spotify Paid Subscriber Count in U.S. Williams Pelegrin / Android Authority : Apple Music now has more US subscribers than Spotify, per WSJ Usman Qureshi / iPhone in Canada Blog : Apple Music Surpasses Spotify in Paid U.S. Subscribers Andrew Orr / The Mac Observer : Apple Music Paid Subscribers Surpass Spotify in U.S. Ed Hardy / Cult of Mac : Apple Music finally passes Spotify in U.S. paid subscribers Eli Blumenthal / USA Today : Is Apple Music really beating Spotify with U.S. users? WSJ report says yes Anna Washenko / RAIN News : WSJ says Apple Music has more U.S. subscribers than Spotify Valentina Palladino / Ars Technica : More people pay for Apple Music than Spotify in the US now Bruce Houghton / hypebot : Apple Music Has More Paid US Subscribers Than Spotify [Report] Jason Aycock / Seeking Alpha : WSJ: Apple Music passes Spotify in U.S. paying subscribers Tweets: Greg Wester / @gwestr : Apple is the new Microsoft - the quiet giant that sneaks up behind you, slowly, methodically, until it consumes you. Netflix had better watch out. http://www.wsj.com/... Owen Williams / @ow : App Included With Every New iPhone Ever Is More Popular Than App That Is Not Included With Every Phone Ever http://www.wsj.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : WSJ is citing sources that Apple Music has passed Spotify subscribers in the US. The only problem is that this happened a year ago, and Apple CEO Tim Cook told everyone https://musically.com/... Paul Kedrosky / @pkedrosky : This feels a little ... confused. Yes, Apple has overtaken Spotify in the US, but the global gap between the two services is getting larger, is it not? Apple Music Overtakes Spotify in U.S. Subscribers https://alerts.cmail19.com/... pic.twitter.com/cqekxTuqp0 @wsj : Apple Music has surpassed Spotify in paid U.S. subscriptions, a shift that escalates the music rivals' battle for listeners world-wide http://www.wsj.com/... Carl Quintanilla / @carlquintanilla : Apple Music Surpasses Spotify in U.S. Subscribers — Sources Apple Music's 28 Million U.S. Subscribers Surpass Spotify's 26 Million as of February — Sources Apple Music Has Been Growing at 2.6% to 3% in the U.S., Versus Spotify's 1.5% to 2% — Sources (via Dow Jones) See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The crossover the trade press has been tracking for over a year has arrived: after FT reporting put Apple Music just 1M behind Spotify in the US last July (21.5M vs 22.5M), WSJ sources now say Apple Music reached 28M US subscribers in February against Spotify's 26M — and is still growing roughly twice as fast monthly.
The timing matters because this was forecast, not fluked: a February 2018 WSJ report already projected an overtake that summer based on Apple Music's then ~5% monthly growth. It took longer than predicted, but the direction held across three consecutive sourced datapoints since Apple Music first crossed 10M subscribers in early 2016.
First-order effects
- Spotify loses its home-market lead for the first time in the streaming era, and with Apple Music compounding at 2.6%–3% monthly versus its own 1.5%–2%, the US gap widens rather than closes on current rates.
- Apple gains a headline proof point for its services narrative — Recode's framing that music-subscription success sells 'lots of other stuff' — right as it reportedly prepares to split iTunes into separate Music and Podcast apps on macOS.
Second-order effects
- Spotify's counter-move likely leans on markets where it still leads: Counterpoint's 2019 tally shows Spotify holding 31% of global paid subscriptions versus Apple Music's 19%, so the battleground shifts to international share and playlist/brand differentiation rather than raw US installs.
- Amazon's trajectory complicates any two-horse framing — [[a:943623|FT reporting showed Amazon Music Unlimited growing ~70% year-over-year with 32M+ total subscribers by April]], meaning the fastest-growing US rival is neither of the leaders.
Third-order effects
- If device-distributed subscriptions keep outgrowing standalone apps in mature markets, US streaming consolidates around platform owners who can bundle music into hardware and services packages, pressuring independent services toward consolidation or deeper carrier/device partnerships.
- Label licensing leverage follows subscriber mass: as Apple becomes the largest US payer per the sourced numbers, renewal negotiations tilt toward whoever controls distribution through installed devices.
The trend: Music streaming competition is fragmenting from a single global leaderboard into regional and bundle-driven battles, where platform owners convert device install bases into subscription leads.