British electronic musician Richard D. James, or commonly known as Aphex Twin, has overtaken Taylor Swift in monthly listeners on YouTube Music, an unexpected data point that briefly upends the usual hierarchy of pop stardom.
As of writing, Aphex Twin’s monthly YouTube Music audience sits at 438 million listeners. Swift follows with 396 million. The disparity stems from how YouTube Music calculates its monthly audience. A few casual fans, including Filipino-American electronic musician and content creator RamonPang, have been cited by news outlets for pointing out the data.
The figure accounts for direct plays on official artist videos as well as for passive listening across the platform, including YouTube Shorts in the last 28 days.
AMBIENT DOMINANCE
Aphex Twin’s traditional chart metrics tell a more familiar story. Much of his inflated reach can be traced back to the ongoing virality of “QKThr,” a track from his 2001 album Drukqs. The song has become a recurring background track for a wide range of content, such as creator videos and meme compilations, with 7.8 million videos using the song on TikTok. Its persistent circulation highlights how electronic music continues to find new life through platform algorithms rather than conventional streaming behavior.
Despite the YouTube Music anomaly, Swift remains one of the most dominant artists across nearly every other major streaming platform. She continues to lead global charts on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.
