Apple Music now has more paid US subscribers than Spotify

The latest battle in the ongoing streaming wars involves the top two world contenders, and, at least as far as the United States goes, Apple Music has come out on top. According to a new report released last week from The Wall Street Journal, Apple Music has overtaken Spotify in paid US subscribers for the first time.

As of the end of February, Apple Music reportedly had 28 million paid US subscribers, while Spotify came in with 26 million. What’s more, Apple Music’s sustainability model for economic growth is far better for the course than Spotify’s. So the gap will likely continue to enlargen in Apple’s favor.

It’s worth noting that neither company publically shares detailed subscription numbers by region, but the WSJ data draws its predictions from insider sources who’ve have confirmed that Apple Music’s US paid subscribers have indeed surpassed Spotify’s.

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.

Of course, Spotify does still have more US users than Apple Music—only they are non-paid accounts. Free Spotify accounts aren’t as financially viable for the Swedish-based platform since they rely solely on ad revenue.