New data reveals Taylor Swift was the world’s ‘most influential’ artist of 2024

Luminate, the company that provides the sales and streaming data that powers the Billboard charts, is out with its 2024 Year-End Music Report — and Taylor Swift has a new entry for her résumé. According to the company’s data, not only was Taylor the top streamed songwriter of the year and the artist with the top-selling album of the year, she was also the most influential artist of 2024.

Luminate determined that with its new Luminate Index, which uses five components — streaming, social media footprint, awareness, public perception and fan engagement — to determine what it calls “the depth, breadth and affinity of an artist’s fandom among U.S. consumers.”

Taylor tops the Luminate Index for 2024; in fact, female artists took up eight of the top 10 spots on the tally. After Taylor, Adele came next, followed by Beyoncé. The rest of the top 10 are, in descending order: Elton John, Rihanna, Eminem, Shakira, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Dolly Parton.

However, things are a bit different when you look at Gen Z consumers alone: Rihanna is tops with that audience, followed by Taylor, Eminem and Ariana. That Gen Z top 10 also includes artists who don’t appear on the overall index, like The Weeknd, Post Malone and Drake.