Spotify named most popular music streaming service

NEW YORK, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Spotify is now the world's most popular music streaming app, beating competitors Pandora, Apple Music and other international services.

According to a market report by App Annie, Spotify's usage data soars among its 20 million Android and iOS users. The popular streaming service beats out Pandora Radio, which according to the report held the top spot last year.

Pandora is only available to users in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, while Spotify covers a much larger area of 58 markets around the world, adding to its potential reach.

While Spotify tops nine of the 15 high-volume markets in Asia and Europe, local apps including Deezer (popular in France), Line Music (Japan), Melon (South Korea), Saavn (India) and QQ Music (China) have a significant hold in their respective countries, App Annie says. "This is particularly the case in APAC [Asia-Pacific] markets," the organization reports, "highlighting the importance of local content to acquiring and retaining users in the region."

Overall, Stockholm-based Spotify leads the worldwide music streaming market in terms of active users, downloads and revenue.