Drake's 'Scorpion' Is Nielsen Music's Top Album Of 2018 In U.S. And 'God's Plan' Most-Streamed Song

Female artists, Spanish-English hits and Drake fueled explosive growth in US music consumption last year, according to a Nielsen report on Tuesday.

The report, which did not include radio broadcasts, said domestic music listening in all other formats — including paid and unpaid streaming services, CDs and vinyl sales — increased 23 percent in 2018.

The growth was mostly driven by on-demand audio streams — or plays from leading music subscription services — which soared 49 percent to 611 billion songs.

David Bakula, Nielsen Music’s Senior VP of Industry Insights, credited smart speakers for taking music consumption to unprecedented heights.

Drake’s “Scorpion” was the year’s most-consumed album, with top singles “God’s Plan” (1.57 billion on-demand streams), “Nice for What” (844 million) and “In My Feelings” (1.1 billion) spending a record 29 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.

Women commanded the list’s top spot for 18 of 52 weeks — up from eight weeks in 2017 — thanks to No. 1 hits by Cardi B, Camila Cabello and Ariana Grande.

Cardi B also became the first female rapper to score two solo No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100, first with “I Like It,” followed by her “Girls Like You” collaboration with Maroon 5.

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