May was a rough month, but the rock and metal bands on Spotify overall saw gains in their listeners. This month I decided to add a new data point: percent change, to show how quickly each bands audience is growing, rather than just raw numbers of followers. The biggest gains were:
Metal Church: +77.51%
Veil of Maya: +65.13%
The Ghost Inside: +57.02%
The hardest hit were:
Divine Chaos: 4,398 13,725 -67.96%
Allegaeon: 75,706 109,399 -30.80%
Imonolith: 14,591 19,833 -26.43%
See a band you don't recognize? Looking for some new tunes? Click each band's name to be taken directly to their Spotify page.
As always, this is not an exact science, the rankings should not be taken as fact, as these are just ranking relative to the other artists we chose for this study. Meaning, there could be artists that may not have been listed who have more listens. We try to keep the list as accurate as possible, so if you know an artist missing, please mention it in the comments and we'll add it for next month.
Here are the readings for the last 30 days. You can see our previous standings here.
How do these numbers look to you? What surprises you the most?
- Queen: 32,460,606 +485622 52%
- AC/DC: 17,781,594 +661786 87%
- Linkin Park: 17,603,056 +519487 04%
- Guns N’ Roses: 17,399,232 +555692 30%
- Bon Jovi: 15,915,216 +402965 60%
- Metallica: 14,946,494 +729634 13%
- Aerosmith: 14,177,836 +580249 27%
- Led Zeppelin: 14,021,362 +355783 60%
- Nirvana: 13,925,540 +298893 19%
- Pink Floyd: 13,242,243 +254855 96%
- Foo Fighters: 11,139,048 +358825 33%
- Pearl Jam: 9,904,593 -310629 -3.04%
- Van Halen: 8,918,794 +400013 70%
- System of A Down: 8,328,579 +262705 26%
- Kiss: 7,908,449 +312266 11%
- Scorpions: 7,907,163 +208809 71%
- Disturbed: 7,627,046 +159921 14%
- Black Sabbath: 7,482,379 +231734 20%
- Papa Roach: 7,091,386 +266061 90%
- Ozzy Osbourne: 6,941,282 +131906 94%
- Rage Against The Machine: 6,665,676 +423202 78%
- Slipknot: 6,434,592 +128778 04%
- Evanesence: 6,277,751 +149386 44%
- Limp Bizkit: 6,130,115 +245029 16%
- Deep Purple: 6,122,286 +118471 97%
- Three Days Grace: 5,761,850 +229541 15%
- Rammstein: 5,551,046 -51343 -0.92%
- Whitesnake: 5,509,968 +312364 01%
- Iron Maiden: 5,454,497 +136225 56%
- Avenged Sevenfold: 5,380,807 +147052 81%
- Motley Crue: 5,333,074 +202237 94%
- Five Finger Death Punch: 5,251,561 +82145 59%
- Def Leppard: 5,180,404 +221180 46%
- Korn: 5,031,164 +342072 30%
- Audioslave: 4,913,145 +223791 77%
- Queens of the Stoneage: 4,842,232 +85263 79%
- Shinedown: 4,841,624 +312607 90%
- Rise Against: 4,817,509 +189693 10%
- Skillet: 4,756,969 +95942 06%
- Soundgarden: 4,625,836 +188620 25%
- Breaking Benjamin: 4,481,789 +117936 70%
- Alice in Chains: 4,441,354 +177744 17%
- Marilyn Manson: 4,293,547 +122657 94%
- Seether: 4,264,368 +170804 17%
- Bring Me the Horizon: 4,248,093 -55950 -1.30%
- Thin Lizzy: 4,127,588 +240897 20%
- Blue Oyster Cult: 3,995,077 +218225 78%
- A Day to Remember: 3,958,387 -12808 -0.32%
- Stone Sour: 3,728,554 +113116 13%
- Rush: 3,677,102 +222215 43%
- Motorhead: 3,657,254 +102786 89%
- Volbeat: 3,613,836 +85381 42%
- Godsmack: 3,361,280 +157482 92%
- Twisted Sister: 3,346,266 +163257 13%
- Poison: 3,325,105 +129912 07%
- Pantera: 3,318,476 +123873 88%
- Theory of a Deadman: 3,293,946 +74040 30%
- I Prevail: 3,273,555 -131271 -3.86%
- Judas Priest: 3,067,542 +105675 57%
- Puddle Of Mudd: 2,949,518 +125450 44%
- Falling In Reverse: 2,920,133 +57009 99%
- Quiet Riot: 2,904,362 +88113 13%
- Faith No More: 2,890,572 +81020 88%
- Bullet For My Valentine: 2,868,893 +83077 98%
- Megadeth: 2,854,447 +51043 82%
- Asking Alexandria: 2,767,508 +255252 16%
- Bad Wolves: 2,742,163 +78115 93%
- Bad Wolves: 2,742,163 Recently Added
- Skid Row: 2,714,123 +143043 56%
- Tool: 2,515,367 +12118 48%
- Greta Van Fleet: 2,165,527 +35529 67%
- Killswitch Engage: 2,159,754 +133085 57%
- Deftones: 2,101,516 +68311 36%
- Rob Zombie: 2,086,590 +104786 29%
- Drowning Pool: 2,067,799 +85763 33%
- Dio: 2,015,878 +104049 44%
- Trivium: 1,932,490 -102336 -5.03%
- Starset: 1,923,353 +112649 22%
- Sabaton: 1,883,611 +63708 50%
- Our Last Night: 1,836,236 +30088 67%
- Warrant: 1,809,355 +109277 43%
- Slayer: 1,802,956 +15535 87%
- Halestorm: 1,798,089 +54096 10%
- Nightwish: 1,766,352 -224620 -11.28%
- Pop Evil: 1,761,019 +411768 52%
- Alter Bridge: 1,681,760 +4074 24%
- Lamb of God: 1,641,527 +40525 53%
- Ghost: 1,635,739 +6608 41%
- The Cult: 1,600,786 +100839 72%
- Within Temptation: 1,550,125 +255074 70%
- Atreyu: 1,504,585 +19004 28%
- The Pretty Reckless: 1,474,081 +383216 13%
- Mudvayne: 1,458,864 +96176 06%
- In This Moment: 1,448,141 -50498 -3.37%
- Silverstein: 1,421,962 -28757 -1.98%
- In Flames: 1,416,581 +4627 33%
- Parkway Drive: 1,382,970 -32859 -2.32%
- Dragonforce: 1,368,997 +60950 66%
- Motionless in White: 1,367,050 +117843 43%
- Slash: 1,338,305 +20489 55%
- All That Remains: 1,336,307 +64082 04%
- Machine Head: 1,284,646 +36603 93%
- Primus: 1,244,665 +153554 07%
- Danzig: 1,244,249 +26822 20%
- Of Mice & Men: 1,234,233 +9847 80%
- Dope: 1,210,368 +70288 17%
- Anthrax: 1,182,423 +92676 50%
- Dream Theater: 1,180,775 +22959 98%
- Static-X: 1,168,266 +145088 18%
- RATT: 1,157,761 +125996 21%
- Amon Amarth: 1,059,293 +21993 12%
- Amaranthe: 1,036,642 -5710 -0.55%
- White Zombie: 1,027,776 +68490 14%
- Nonpoint: 1,016,453 Recently Added
- Helloween: 1,013,244 +55275 77%
- The Amity Affliction: 1,012,537 +3749 37%
- Gojira: 1,006,960 +28037 86%
- Misfits: 1,005,310 +36475 76%
- Nothing More: 1,003,182 +24859 54%
- Adelitas Way: 982,304 +3439 35%
- As I Lay Dying: 975,065 -49063 -4.79%
- Coheed and Cambria: 959,093 +47110 17%
- Airbourne: 953,328 +47929 29%
- Mastodon: 922,850 +41800 74%
- Underoath: 913,398 +35137 00%
- Sepultura: 912,381 +13305 48%
- Accept: 902,706 +26901 07%
- A.S.P: 899,312 +42387 4.95%
- Sevendust: 884,502 +32265 79%
- Ice Nine Kills: 878,334 +8814 01%
- Black Stone Cherry: 860,766 +27249 27%
- Tesla: 855,915 +54510 80%
- Alestorm: 845,419 +72059 32%
- Poppy: 826,365 Recently Added
- Queensryche: 825,992 +46414 95%
- HELLYEAH: 808,526 +30134 87%
- Wage War: 794,106 +37597 97%
- Uriah Heep: 788,001 +21368 79%
- Hammerfall: 752,754 +20815 84%
- Architects: 727,527 -416 -0.06%
- Living Colour: 726,947 +44944 59%
- Manowar: 709,372 +31480 64%
- Fit For a King: 709,214 +35907 33%
- Bury Tomorrow: 686,609 -83790 -10.88%
- Soil: 677,065 +30939 79%
- August Burns Red: 673,336 -115177 -14.61%
- Children of Bodom: 670,778 +14076 14%
- Opeth: 670,629 +6642 00%
- Suicidal Tendencies: 669,420 +65380 82%
- Hatebreed: 639,983 +20360 29%
- Arch Enemy: 639,710 +10336 64%
- Fear Factory: 636,926 +43148 27%
- Testament: 634,126 -96569 -13.22%
- Riot: 633,381 -12428 -1.92%
- Clutch: 615,606 +43632 63%
- Fozzy: 608,622 +6707 11%
- Type O Negative: 595,540 +26125 59%
- The Ghost Inside: 592,732 +215250 02%
- Lacuna Coil: 569,319 +4468 79%
- Fever 333: 564,883 Recently Added
- Saxon: 562,826 +24503 55%
- Bad Omens: 534,115 -10941 -2.01%
- Insane Clown Posse: 532,625 +8061 54%
- Porcupine Tree: 524,424 +22597 50%
- Eluveitie: 518,464 -3193 -0.61%
- Babymetal: 515,265 +14731 94%
- Cold: 510,659 +10949 19%
- Skindred: 506,544 +26692 56%
- Korpiklaani: 501,326 +16764 46%
- Meshuggah: 498,852 +23429 93%
- Suicide Silence: 493,224 +19359 09%
- Fire From The Gods: 487,659 Recently Added
- Death: 480,872 -5265 -1.08%
- The Devil Wears Prada: 476,594 +6028 28%
- Blind Guardian: 473,751 +17553 85%
- Northlane: 472,929 +63007 37%
- Sonata Arctica: 470,725 +14291 13%
- Steel Panther: 469,444 +10827 36%
- The Veer Union: 463,842 Recently Added
- Epica: 463,340 +13611 03%
- Whitechapel: 461,125 -278 -0.06%
- Polyphia: 443,006 -6408 -1.43%
- Behemoth: 427,373 +116233 36%
- Soulfly: 426,499 +33008 39%
- Attila: 426,431 +37109 53%
- Avatar: 426,349 +98382 00%
- Dethklok: 415,761 +18544 67%
- After The Burial: 407,303 +16940 34%
- Exodus: 404,437 +14285 66%
- Kreator: 397,490 -33614 -7.80%
- The Plot In You: 395,755 +16741 42%
- Veil of Maya: 389,109 +153468 13%
- Soilwork: 387,520 +18283 95%
- Avantasia: 384,993 +13330 59%
- Demon Hunter: 384,345 +5885 55%
- Thy Art is Murder: 381,644 +5767 53%
- Turisas: 372,912 +16268 56%
- Periphery: 368,583 +7945 20%
- Jinjer: 368,146 +9791 73%
- Heaven Shall Burn: 354,070 -48196 -11.98%
- (Hed) P.E.: 349,984 Recently Added
- Refused: 349,783 -13416 -3.69%
- Monster Magnet: 346,088 +25764 04%
- Cradle of Filth: 344,615 +10533 15%
- Bad Brains: 343,883 Recently Added
- Chon: 339,900 +15406 75%
- Body Count: 336,151 Recently Added
- Cannibal Corpse: 330,853 +6053 86%
- Corrosion of Conformity: 324,435 +17404 67%
- Ensiferum: 321,625 +103717 60%
- Dirty Honey: 319,976 -9859 -2.99%
- Amorphus: 317,147 +2225 71%
- Emmure: 309,706 +33889 29%
- Light the Torch: 307,989 +4046 33%
- Code Orange: 306,609 -59013 -16.14%
- Krokus: 306,337 +21391 51%
- Poets of the Fall: 302,348 +14024 86%
- Kamelot: 297,376 +9225 20%
- Dimmu Borgir: 295,358 +16431 89%
- Crobot: 292,504 -16563 -5.36%
- Chelsea Grin: 287,165 +2687 94%
- The Black Dahlia Murder: 285,457 -50749 -15.09%
- Volumes: 284,259 +50226 46%
- Delain: 284,257 +7007 53%
- Diamond Head: 283,096 +7345 66%
- Anathema: 280,189 +14918 62%
- New Years Day: 277,157 +22141 68%
- KMFDM: 274,731 +8782 30%
- Turmion Kätilöt: 273,272 -32494 -10.63%
- Animals As Leaders: 271,314 +7232 74%
- Spineshank: 261,156 +15652 38%
- Overkill: 257,491 -3257 -1.25%
- Equilibrium: 251,592 +12783 35%
- Born of Osiris: 240,325 +6531 79%
- Sonic Syndicate: 239,608 +10449 56%
- Secrets: 235,179 -9162 -3.75%
- Mercyful Fate: 231,299 +2917 28%
- Knocked Loose: 224,788 +8096 74%
- Pain: 222,395 +11816 61%
- Fit For An Autopsy: 218,070 -27963 -11.37%
- King Diamond: 215,077 +2544 20%
- Plini: 212,859 -417 -0.20%
- Devin Townsend: 210,625 -7302 -3.35%
- Venom: 208,859 -13154 -5.92%
- Dark Tranquility: 208,476 +6553 25%
- Every Time I Die: 206,372 +13284 88%
- Baroness: 206,050 -6100 -2.88%
- Protest The Hero: 204,946 +32499 85%
- Red Fang: 200,440 +4990 55%
- TesseracT: 197,846 +10097 38%
- The Acacia Strain: 192,004 +12061 70%
- The Dillinger Escape Plan: 191,139 +14313 09%
- Sleep: 190,799 -12637 -6.21%
- Hyro the Hero: 190,458 Recently Added
- 3Teeth: 189,326 -1472 -0.77%
- Myrkur: 187,782 -19776 -9.53%
- Stick To Your Guns: 185,626 +8977 08%
- Between the Buried and Me: 183,794 +6192 49%
- Otep: 180,024 +7812 54%
- The Birthday Massacre: 177,825 -8636 -4.63%
- Riverside: 176,697 -6411 -3.50%
- Insomnium: 174,127 +3604 11%
- Caliban: 172,753 +23675 88%
- Strapping Young Lad: 170,907 +3023 80%
- Kvelertak: 170,798 -15662 -8.40%
- Death Angel: 167,168 -1241 -0.74%
- The Contortionist: 165,574 -332 -0.20%
- Elvenking: 159,391 -24406 -13.28%
- Rhapsody of Fire: 159,308 +1363 86%
- Havok: 158,716 +16391 52%
- Mayhem: 156,335 -234 -0.15%
- At the Gates: 156,027 +7149 80%
- The Browning: 155,855 +1848 20%
- Burzum: 154,341 -1530 -0.98%
- Metal Church: 152,504 +66589 51%
- Chimaira: 151,890 +7437 15%
- Counterparts: 149,437 +1279 86%
- Karnivool: 147,721 +5042 53%
- Carnifex: 147,640 +22164 66%
- Rotting Christ: 145,394 +4961 53%
- Alien Weaponry: 143,249 +1114 78%
- Satyricon: 140,536 +7798 87%
- Ho99o9: 139,620 Recently Added
- Deicide: 139,009 +3484 57%
- Kobra & the Lotus 138,765 -2372 -1.68%
- Gamma Ray: 137,154 +3717 79%
- Biohazard: 136,705 +6244 79%
- Shadows Fall: 133,862 +10140 20%
- Finntroll: 130,062 +6219 02%
- Zeal & Ardor: 127,657 Recently Added
- The Unguided: 127,338 +7074 88%
- Dying Fetus: 127,154 +2778 23%
- Cattle Decapitation: 126,936 -8246 -6.10%
- Celtic Frost: 122,283 +2041 70%
- Municipal Waste: 121,624 +619 51%
- Converge: 118,544 -2925 -2.41%
- Unearth: 116,700 +3478 07%
- High on Fire: 114,345 +11669 36%
- Darkthrone: 114,241 +893 79%
- Gwar: 109,602 +6935 75%
- If These Trees Could Talk: 109,142 -815 -0.74%
- For Today: 108,386 Recently Added
- Darkest Hour: 103,823 +5252 33%
- Deafheaven: 102,918 -4535 -4.22%
- Bloodbath: 100,628 +3040 12%
- Heidevolk: 98,935 +4320 57%
- Nevermore: 96,902 +5456 97%
- Scar Symmetry: 95,983 +3226 48%
- Nuclear Assault: 92,119 +1631 80%
- Dropout Kings: 91,617 Recently Added
- Fleshgod Apocalypse: 91,071 +1410 57%
- Wintersun: 90,760 +3364 85%
- Bolt Thrower: 90,587 +803 89%
- Loathe: 90,317 Recently Added
- Emperor: 84,731 +1264 51%
- Warbringer: 83,146 -20168 -19.52%
- Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators: 82,937 +2218 75%
- Carcass: 80,353 -185 -0.23%
- Decapitated: 80,069 -856 -1.06%
- Cult of Luna: 80,013 +148 19%
- Antimatter: 79,553 +3909 17%
- Devilskin: 78,041 -26401 -25.28%
- Allegaeon: 75,706 -33693 -30.80%
- The Agonist: 74,782 +3303 62%
- Isis: 74,318 +3440 85%
- Bloodywood: 73,255 -7282 -9.04%
- The Ocean: 73,028 +1554 17%
- Within the Ruins: 72,428 -3102 -4.11%
- Cellar Darling: 70,929 -498 -0.70%
- Death: 70,913 Recently Added
- Marduk: 69,102 +1563 31%
- Armored Saint: 68,680 +1588 37%
- Toxic Holocaust: 66,636 -1536 -2.25%
- Oceano: 65,123 Recently Added
- Oh, Sleeper: 64,930 +3742 12%
- Rivers of Nihil: 64,482 +2215 56%
- King's X: 63,950 Recently Added
- Dark Funeral: 63,104 -419 -0.66%
- The Faceless: 62,429 +2035 37%
- Crowbar: 62,041 +3397 79%
- Revocation: 58,212 -1621 -2.71%
- Neurosis: 57,788 +509 89%
- Suffocation: 57,452 Recently Added
- Torche: 56,821 +2712 01%
- Wednesday 13: 50,384 +7 01%
- Aborted: 48,770 -13872 -22.14%
- Infected Rain: 45,568 -4981 -9.85%
- The Warning: 43,971 +1607 79%
- Vein: 40,708 -3117 -7.11%
- Yob: 40,562 +624 56%
- Nachtblut: 37,531 +1598 45%
- Iron Reagan: 37,284 +575 57%
- BackWordz: 30,613 Recently Added
- Rage Of Light: 29,970 Recently Added
- God Forbid: 27,469 Recently Added
- Green Lung: 26,889 +2236 07%
- Kaonashi: 25,932 Recently Added
- Uneven Structure: 25,905 -216 -0.83%
- Beneath the Massacre: 20,911 -2363 -10.15%
- Employed To Serve: 20,110 -2732 -11.96%
- Sanctuary: 20,077 +1200 36%
- Rolo Tomassi: 19,141 -429 -2.19%
- Inferious: 17,999 Recently Added
- Oceans of Slumber: 17,906 Recently Added
- Lovebites: 17,887 +1681 37%
- Straight Line Stitch: 16,752 Recently Added
- Hirax: 15,629 Recently Added
- Imonolith: 14,591 -5242 -26.43%
- Bloodbather: 14,537 Recently Added
- Forget Tomorrow: 13,909 Recently Added
- Arrival of Autumn: 13,475 +1377 38%
- A Dark Halo: 12,392 -2247 -15.35%
- Primitive Man: 11,362 Recently Added
- Brutality Will Prevail: 9,861 -276 -2.72%
- Lords of the Trident: 9,322 +875 36%
- Evil Scarecrow: 8,483 -605 -6.66%
- Mortality Rate: 8,406 +84 01%
- Baest: 7,900 -1363 -14.71%
- Spirit Breaker: 4,929 Recently Added
- Evil Invaders: 4,852 -104 -2.10%
- Divine Chaos: 4,398 -9327 -67.96%
