Russ has shared his views on Spotify stats and how people shouldn’t view the popularity of an artist based on their monthly listeners — which he believes is “a facade.”
In a new interview with the streaming giant, the Atlanta-via-New Jersey rapper spoke openly about his monthly listeners count while shouting out his “super listeners” who make up almost 10 percent of his fan base — a much higher portion compared to most other artists.
AD LOADING...
“Sat down with Spotify and got to finally debunk wtf monthly listeners actually means,” he wrote on Twitter. “Shoutout to all my ‘super listeners’. Super listeners on average make up 2% of an artists monthly listeners. Y’all make up 9% of mine.”
He continued in a separate tweet, saying that while 14 million monthly listeners are listed on his Spotify, only 10 million people are active listeners of his music. The other four million are just passive listeners who stumbled upon his tunes in playlists or on Spotify radio.
“I have 10,000,000 people in my active audience out of my 14m monthly listeners,” he wrote. “That’s people who go out of their way to listen to my music The rest is people who heard it on a playlist or Spotify radio etc..they weren’t actively tryna hear it This is why I say the monthly listeners number is a facade. I wonder what the active audience number really is for other artists who have crazy playlisting etc
In the video, Russ celebrates his die-hard fandom and said he often stays up late DMing his supporters and talking with them for “hours.”
“I think it’s a testament to staying connected with my fans,” he said of his “super listeners.” “It’s funny to sort of debunk the monthly listeners number because I see how volatile it is. To see that I actually have 10 million that are active is awesome.”
He continued: “That’s a way more honest number, and it’s a way more useful number. So many times throughout my career I’ve seen, you know, just in my comment section like Cape Town fans or Saudi Arabian fans.
AD LOADING...
“Every time I see enough of it where it’s making a dent, I single them out and acknowledge it. That’s always made it expand. For me just acknowledging your fans is step one of being a fucking good person.”
Check out the rest of Russ’ Spotify chat below:
Russ has always gone to bat for his fans over the years, and they’ve always gone to bat for him. The Zoo rapper had previously taken to Twitter back in June to re-share a corrected article that XXL had penned, in which it shared viral footage from Russ’ performance at Egypt’s Pyramids back in 2022.
However, he said he had to remind XXL that his fans never forgot who did it first and said he even wrote to the publication to correct it after writers allegedly claimed Travis Scott’s upcoming Utopia show at the Pyramids would be the first time a rapper had achieved such a feat.
AD LOADING...
“Nah I didn’t remind fans, mine knew,” Russ wrote. “A rap media page (most likely run by a white kid who says the n word who swears he’s misunderstood and just needs to rage) said that he was the first to perform at the pyramids..I reminded that page Thanks for the skewed narrative and excellent journalism per usual tho XXL.”
