Spotify is projected to see an increase in the number of podcast listeners by eight million in 2021.

Data analysis by Finaria, investments, and equity trading firm, recorded a 41.3 percent increase from the 2020 total of 19.9 million.

Following the investments, Spotify has made a cumulative $900 million on podcast acquisitions since 2019, spending $400 million on acquiring Anchor, Gimlet Media, and Parcast and in 2020, acquiring The Ringer for $196 million and Megaphone for $235 million.

In its Q4 2020 earnings report, the music streaming platform recorded a 27 percent year-over-year growth in monthly active users to 345 million.

Its premium subscribers grew by 24 percent to reach 155 million in the same quarter.

Data forecast Spotify to hit 33.1 million listeners in 2022 and 37.5 million listeners by 2023.

Apple, in 2015, had a two-thirds share of podcast listeners globally; 80 percent of mobile listeners.

By 2018, the share dropped to 34.1 percent and is forecast to drop to 23.8 percent by 2021.

Spotify is expected to continue to be ahead of Apple as Apple’s podcast listening strength will likely increase from 27.6 million in 2020 to 28 million in 2021.

The data showed that Apple would grow slightly to 28.5 million in 2022 and 28.8 million by 2023.