Kneecap score more listeners than The Beatles in Ireland, as Irish music continues to thrive

Irish music has had a stellar year on streaming according to Spotify Wrapped 2025, with Kneecap attracting more listeners on the platform than The Beatles and Elton John in their native Ireland – NME can exclusively reveal.

Today (Wednesday December 3) saw the launch of Spotify Wrapped 2025 – showing music fans their most listened to songs, artists, albums and more from the last 12 months. While globally, listening habits on the streaming service were dominated by the likes of Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars – and with top 10s in the UK led by Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Alex Warren and Billie Eilish – stats shared exclusively with NME show the continued worldwide phenomenon of Irish music.

While last year saw Irish artists export 14.6billion streams worldwide, with 95 per cent of Irish artist streams coming from outside Ireland, 2025 is currently on track to be an even bigger year for Irish artist exports with more listeners in the US, Canada, South Korea and Germany. The first quarter of 2025 saw Irish music streams increase by 20 per cent, with another 9.8billion listeners added by August.

Fontaines D.C. have kept the momentum up since the release of 2024’s ‘Romance‘ – which came in at Number 10 in the most-streamed albums list in Ireland and found them in the UK’s top 70 artists – but it’s controversial Belfast rap trio Kneecap who rode the wave of success after last year’s ‘Fine Art‘ and headlines surrounding their legal battle with the British government. The rappers were listened to 26million times in Ireland this year, more than the likes of The Beatles and Elton John on the Emerald Isle, as Spotify have confirmed to NME. 

In a year that has also seen acclaimed albums from Just Mustard and NewDad, one of the most celebrated new Irish releases of 2025 was CMAT‘s Mercury-nominated third LP ‘Euro-Country‘, which landed amongst the top 100 albums in Ireland this year and saw her attract 1.5million monthly listeners on Spotify. Viral track ‘Take A Sexy Picture Of Me‘ has more than doubled in streams since summer – now sitting at over 23million streams.

She’ll be at the top of many summer festivals in 2026, including a headline spot at Ireland’s Electric Picnic alongside Fontaines and Gorillaz.

Meanwhile, summer 2025’s Reading & Leeds headliner Hozier has two albums in Ireland’s top 50 albums list on Spotify, and finds himself in the top 100 artists in 2025 globally and in the top 50 artists in the UK this year. The singer-songwriter also has two songs in the top 125 songs this year globally, including ‘Too Sweet’ and ‘Take Me To Church’, which both feature in the top 55 songs in the UK.

Kingfishr have in as as the third most streamed artist in Ireland, behisnd only Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan. Their single ‘Killeagh’ was Spotify’s top song in Ireland in 2025, while Amble’s ‘Reverie’ has come in a the most listened to album in the country ahead of efforts from Noah Kahan and Sabrina Carpenter.

Editor at Spotify Shannon Carragher explained how there was “something about Irish artists that cuts through the noise right now”.

“A lot of it comes down to how naturally they blend intimacy with scale,” she told NME. “Their work often carries this mix of emotional honesty, wit, and self-awareness that feels instantly relatable, even if you’ve never set foot in Ireland.

“They write and perform like people who have lived a lot, felt a lot, and aren’t afraid to show the messier edges of it. That vulnerability lands in a world where listeners are tired of polished perfection; they want music that feels lived-in, flawed, funny, and true. Irish artists offer that in spades, and listeners recognise the sincerity.”

Carragher continued: “At the same time, there’s a spark of defiance that runs through much of the new Irish wave, an instinct to question, poke fun, stand ground, or turn pain into something communal. Whether it’s CMAT’s emotional chaos delivered with a wink, Fontaines D.C.’s restless searching, or Kneecap’s fearless cultural commentary, these artists bring a sharp point of view that feels refreshing rather than heavy.

“Each act is rooted in Ireland yet universal enough to travel. In fact, CMAT, NewDad and Kettama will all be flying the flag at Coachella next year.

She added: “The music is rooted in Irish identity but not entirely defined by it; instead, they use it as a lens to make sense of the world. And that mix of humour, heart, cultural specificity and big, human themes, travels more effortlessly now due to the times we’re living in. There are truths being told in a way listeners around the world perhaps haven’t felt before, and in a year like 2025, that is exactly what people are craving.”

Fontaines D.C. and Kneecap are among the hundreds of artists taking part in the No Music For Genocide campaign, calling for their work to be geo-blocked on Spotify and other streaming platforms in Israel in protest against what an independent United Nations inquiry found to be a genocide in Gaza. So far, Massive Attack and Paul Weller have been success in their boycott bid.

Again, Spotify hasn’t been without controversy in 2025. Along with continuing issues and complaints around artist payment, the platform has made headlines for the investments of CEO Daniel Ek.

A number of artists have boycotted the streaming service, with Massive Attack vowing that their new material shall never be released on it. The trip-hop icons’ dispute with Spotify emerged earlier this year when they revealed that they had asked their label UMG to remove their music from the platform, following reports that Ek had led a €600million (£524million) investment into Helsing, a Munich-based company creating drones and artificial intelligence for military operations.

In a statement at the time, the band said: “In light of the (reported) significant investments by [Spotify’s] CEO in a company producing military munition drones & Al technology integrated into fighter aircraft, Massive Attack have made a separate request to our label that our music be removed from the Spotify streaming service in all territories.”

They continued: “The economic burden that has long been placed on artists is now compounded by a moral & ethical burden, whereby the hard-earned money of fans & the creative endeavours of musicians ultimately funds lethal, dystopian technologies.”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard also pulled their music from the streaming platform as a result, in a bid to “put pressure on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do better”, while the Sabres Of Paradise removed their music from Spotify due to its “financial ties to AI-driven weapon technologies”.

Other artists have made similar moves to remove their work from Spotify this year, including Deerhoof, Wu Lyf, Xiu Xiu and many more.

In September, Ek announced that he would be stepping down as CEO on January 1, 2026, with Spotify co-presidents Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström set to take his place.

Spotify have also recently cracked down on AI, removing 75million tracks and targeted impersonators, and the streaming giant previously claimed it had paid $10billion (£7.58billion) in royalties in 2024, the largest payout to the music industry in a single year.