U2’s album is still huge among iOS music users

By

U2
Apple's U2 marketing campaign cost over $100 million. Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Despite angering iOS users by forcing their album, Songs of Innocence, onto every iPhone and iPad in the world, U2’s iTunes exclusivity bet is paying off big time.

Nearly one in four of all music users on iOS devices listened to U2 in January, which was nearly double the second most popular artist, Taylor Swift. The force-fed album debuted last fall but its impact is still visible five months later, according to Kantar’s latest survey of iOS users, which found that 23% of all music users on iOS listened to at least one U2 track in January.

Here’s the top 10 artists in January:

Graph: Kantar
Graph: Kantar

Tim Cook and Bono announced that Songs of Innocence would be made available to all iOS users for free during September’s iPhone 6 event. Facing complaints about the unwanted album eating up storage space on users’ devices, Apple eventually launched a website where users can force the album off their iTunes accounts.

Of the iOS users polled by Kantar, 95% say they listened to at least one track on the album. Following U2 and Taylor Swift was Katy Perry who was listened to by 8% of users.

Source: Kantar

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.