Drake dominates Spotify for another year

NEW YORK: Rap superstar Drake has dominated Spotify for the second straight year, ending 2016 as the most streamed artist and with both the most heard album and song.

The world's leading streaming service, releasing figures Thursday for the past one-year period, said that its users listened to the Canadian rapper's songs 4.7 billion times.

He more than doubled his total of 1.8 billion streams in 2015, when he again was Spotify's top artist.

Drake's "Views" was 2016's most streamed album and his "One Dance" was the most popular song -- no surprise considering "One Dance" in October cracked the record as Spotify's most streamed song ever.

Drake was followed by fellow Canadian star Justin Bieber, with Rihanna coming in third for the year.

The popularity of Drake on Sweden-based Spotify comes even though he enjoys a close business relationship with rival Apple, which carried "Views" exclusively for its first week.

Spotify said that Zayn -- the former One Direction heartthrob who released his first solo album this year -- was the leading new artist.

Zayn was followed on the breakout artist list by electronic duo Frenship, who had a viral Spotify hit with "Capsize," and the English singer Anne-Marie.

Classic artists nonetheless dominated many categories.

Metallica, who in November released an album after an eight-year break, was the most streamed metal act.

Enrique Iglesias was the top Latin act while the late Nina Simone and Bob Marley led in the jazz and reggae categories respectively.