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Spotify has been the leader in the streaming music battle for quite some time. And, internationally, the company retains that lead. But in the United States, a new report says that Apple Music, Apple’s feisty contender, has actually surpassed Spotify’s paid subscriber count.

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that, as far as paid subscribers go, Apple Music has surpassed Spotify in the United States. According to unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Apple’s streaming music paid subscribers reportedly passed 28 million subscribers. That’s compared to 26 million paid subscribers in the U.S.

In January of this year, it was reported that, globally, Apple Music reached the 50 million paid subscriber count.

According to this report, Apple Music has been on a meteoric rise for quite some time, with a monthly growth between 2.6 and 3 percent on a regular basis. Compare that to Spotify (based on this report) which sees a monthly growth between 1.5 percent and 2 percent.

“Apple Music has surpassed Spotify Technology SA in paid U.S. subscriptions, according to people familiar with the matter, in a shift that escalates the music rivals’ contest for listeners world-wide.

Apple Inc.’s streaming-music service has been adding subscribers in the world’s biggest music market more rapidly than its Swedish rival—a monthly growth rate of about 2.6% to 3%, compared with 1.5% to 2% for Spotify—the people said.”

It’s worth noting here that this is not the first time this has been reported. Back in July of last year it was reported that Apple Music had surpassed Spotify in paid subscribers in the United States. Now it appears that this report is corroborating that story from last year. However, ccording to the WSJ‘s sources, Apple Music officially surpassed Spotify’s U.S. paid subscribers earlier this year.

Our Take

This is obviously huge news for Apple as a whole, especially considering Apple Music only launched in 2015. Plus, services are very important for Apple at this stage in the company’s lifecycle, so seeing Apple Music not only thrive, but flourish, has to be a glowing indication that they are moving in the right direction.

We Want to Hear From You

Apple Music is popular! Even I’ve switched from Spotify full-time. But what about you? Are you a committed Apple Music subscriber?

[via WSJ]