Spotify closes the fourth quarter of 2025 with the best increase in monthly active users (Mau) in its history and with brilliant accounts: 751 million Mau (+11% per year), 290 million Premium subscribers (+10%), revenues up 13% to 4.5 billion euros, gross margin at 33.1% (+83 basis points) and operating profit at 701 million euros.
Everything above expectations
The numbers certify a fourth quarter above guidance “on all key metrics”, as underlined by co-CEO Alex Norström, and consolidate Spotify’s trajectory as an audio technology platform that aims to expand beyond music. Daniel Ek, founder and executive president, hinged the strategic message on the coming technological changes – artificial intelligence, new interfaces, wearable devices – which will “reshape” the discovery and use of content. In parallel, the other co-CEO Gustav Söderström claimed for the Nordic group a role as an “R&D department” of the music industry, arguing that those who adopt AI more quickly will benefit more from the change.
User growth and monetization
The most relevant data is the dynamics of the user base: Spotify declares the all-time high of “Mau net additions” in Q4, reaching 751 million monthly active users worldwide. The growth of Premium subscribers remains in double figures (+10% to 290 million), a central element for the quality of revenues and for the expansion of the margin, which grew by 83 basis points to 33.1%. On the economic front, the operating income of 701 million euros signals a now structural operating profitability compared to the years in which the platform was more exposed to the “pressure” of content and user acquisition costs.
Norström defined 2025 as the “Year of Accelerated Execution” and framed 2026 as the “Year of Raising Ambition”, a passage which, read together with the quarterly data, aims to legitimize a further extension of the product perimeter (audio, books, video, live) without losing momentum on growth and margins.
The success of Wrapped
On the consumer side, Spotify attributes part of the engagement to Wrapped, now in its eleventh edition: over 300 million users involved and more than 630 million social shares in 56 languages. It is an indicator of the brand’s global reach and ability to generate organic traffic, an important issue in a context of increasing cost of attention.
Among the new features, the Swedish giant is pushing for tools that make the relationship between user and recommendation more “explicit”: Prompted Playlist allows Premium subscribers in some markets to describe “in words” what they want to listen to, intervening directly on the algorithmic output. In parallel, the possibility of following the places (venues) within the app and discovering lineups and dates strengthens the local discovery component and is linked, implicitly, to the live supply chain and partnerships with ticketing operators.
How to improve audiobooks
In the books segment, Spotify expands “Audiobooks in Premium” to five new countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Monaco), bringing audiobooks into subscriptions in Nordic markets with a high digital propensity. The company also introduces continuity of use functions: “Audiobook Recaps” (personalized summaries of what has already been listened to) and “Page Match”, which connects physical book/ebook/audiobook allowing you to resume listening from the exact point by scanning the page.
Note the commercial announcement for spring: in the United States and the United Kingdom it will be possible to purchase physical books via app through a partnership with Bookshop.org, a platform that supports independent bookstores. It’s a piece that moves Spotify closer to content-related commerce, beyond subscription and advertising.
Paid $11 billion to the music industry
On the relationship with the music ecosystem, Spotify announces that it paid over 11 billion dollars to the music industry in 2025, calling it the largest annual payment ever made by a retailer to music creators. The company adds that independent artists and labels account for half of overall royalties, and that the platform has helped generate more than $1 billion in ticket sales by connecting fans to shows through ticketing partners.
As part of the monetization of creators, the “Spotify Partner Program” expands to the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland), while on the format front the company extends music videos in beta to Premium users in the United States and Canada, with a catalog of official videos that includes live and covers.
Barcelona until 2030
Among the positioning operations, Spotify renews its partnership with FC Barcelona until 2030, a global visibility asset that integrates music, sport and culture. On the advertising front, the company launches “Tunetorials”, a campaign that transforms advertising strategies into songs and videos with an explicit objective: to make the use of advertising tools “educational” and more accessible for advertisers.
The Q4 2025 results show that user growth remains robust and that margin leverage continues to improve, while the declared strategy looks to an evolution from a music streaming platform to a technological infrastructure for audio (and, progressively, for adjacent content and formats). The bet for 2026, in the words of management, is to increase ambition while maintaining executive discipline: a balance that will depend on the ability to monetize new use cases (audiobooks, live, video) without compromising the profitability shown in this quarter.