Spotify is seeing a surge in French-language streaming, and Quebec is leading the charge. The company’s 2025 Francophone Report, released on Monday, June 16, highlights a wave of local and global interest in French music, podcasts, and audiobooks—much of it powered by Quebec talent.
In 2024, over 123 million users around the world listened to French-language content on Spotify. Surprisingly, 100 million of those users were outside of traditional French-speaking regions. Since 2019, French music streams have jumped 192%, while French-language podcast listening exploded by nearly 1,900%, explained the company in an email.
Quebec played a key role in that growth. Spotify says nearly half of its Quebec users regularly stream in French, and local listening has grown 130% since 2019. In May 2025 alone, Quebecers listened to over 13 million hours of Francophone content—most of it music.
The trend is also skewing young: nearly 40% of Quebec users engaging with French content are under 29, a sign that the next generation is still plugged into the language.
Big-name Quebec artists are topping the charts at home and gaining traction worldwide. Patrick Watson’s Je te laisserai des mots remains the most-streamed French-language song on Spotify globally. It was added to more than 6.6 million playlists last year. Other local names drawing international streams include Les Cowboys Fringants, Charlotte Cardin, and Enima.
Most listened to French-speaking artists on Spotify worldwide:
- Stromae
- GIMS
- Jul
- Indila
- Patrick Watson
- Soolking
- Aya Nakamura
- Tayc
- Gazo
- PNL
Quebec isn’t just making waves in music. Five of the top 10 most-streamed French-language audiobooks in North America come from Quebec, including Aliss and Mafia Inc.
Artist Fredz, whose popularity tripled last year, says streaming changed everything, in a statement to iPhone in Canada. “I’ve seen my audience triple in Canada in one year. It’s pretty incredible. I already had a loyal following here, but it’s thanks to my latest album Demain il fera beau, which came out a year ago that things really changed”, Fredz said.
Now, it’s not all fine and dandy for Spotify right now. Quebec’s recent Bill 109 would force streaming platforms to promote more French-language content and let the province influence how it’s shown to users. But legal experts say it could face a constitutional challenge, since broadcasting falls under federal jurisdiction—and it’s still unclear if streaming counts.
