Spotify's 2012 dominated by Gotye, Rihanna
Spotify has rounded up its 2012, and revealed that Gotye, Rihanna, and David Guetta had huge years on its service.According to Spotify, the most popular track this year was Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" both in the U.S. and worldwide. Fun's "We Are Young" and Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" rounded out the top three most popular songs in the U.S. this year.Spotify then turned its attention to artists, and discovered that Rihanna was the most popular female artist this year. David Guetta took the top spot for most popular male performer. Guetta's album "Nothing but the Beat" earned top honors for most popular album and most shared album on the service.Related storiesSpotify has much to do before U.S. launchWas Spotify too optimistic about U.S. launch?Pandora spurs music sales; Spotify not so muchSpotify adds two new levels of serviceStats don't support hype: Digital music is ailingColdplay was the most popular band and Adele was the top shared artist.Despite some good news this year -- it announced earlier this month that it now has 1 million paid subscribers in the U.S. -- Spotify has faced real trouble competing in the global streaming-music space. Earlier this year, PrivCo, a company that sells data on non-publicly traded companies, said that Spotify generated over $244 million in revenue last year, but lost a whopping $59 million. It was caused by a business model, PrivCo says, that's "unsustainable."Responding to its obvious troubles, Spotify has become more Pandora-like by offering a free mobile radio service. The company still, however, relies mainly on monthly payment plans to monetize its operation.Still, Spotify's user base in the U.S. appears to be quite similar to those heading to iTunes to get their favorite tracks. According to Apple, "Call me Maybe," "Somebody That I Used to Know," and "We Are Young" were also the top three most popular songs on iTunes this year.
