https://qz.com/1197938/apple-music-will-beat-spotify-in-the-us-by-summer-at-this-rate-of-subscribers/

The critics were plentiful. They claimed Apple Music, launched in the summer of 2015 into an already-crowded music-streaming market, would never catch up to the likes of industry leader Spotify—and that it would flop. If not immediately, then soon after.

The opposite has happened. A Wall Street Journal report (paywall) reveals that Apple Music, now more than two years old, is up to 36 million paid global users. That update puts its monthly growth rate at 5%, compared to Spotify’s 2%. At this pace, Apple Music will be bigger than Spotify in the US—the world’s biggest music market—by the summer.