Artist followers filter for Spotify playlists

To see how many followers an artist has on Spotify, open the artist's profile and look in its About section, where the follower total sits next to monthly listeners; the layout differs a little between the desktop app, the web player and the phone app. Only the total is public, never who follows. Followers are people who pressed Follow, so the number is often far below monthly listeners, which counts everyone who played the artist in the last 28 days.

The Artist followers filter reads that same follower total, as Spotify returns it to apps, and keeps tracks whose artist has at least, or at most, the number you pick. Available on every plan.

What it matches

The filter reads the follower count of each artist credited on the track, takes the highest one, and compares it with the number you set. "At least" keeps tracks whose artist has that many followers or more; "At most" keeps tracks whose artist has that many or fewer. The count you set counts as a match under either operator.

As with Artist popularity, a small artist featuring a big one is treated as the big one.

Where the data comes from

The follower total on the artist's Spotify page. The app's help text: "Filter by how many followers a track's artist has on Spotify. When a track has several artists, the one with the most followers is used." Playlistation loads an artist's page the first time a filter needs it and keeps that copy for later updates, so the count can lag behind what Spotify shows today.

Operators and values

Pick At least ("Keeps tracks whose artist has at least this many followers") or At most ("Keeps tracks whose artist has no more than this many followers"), then a count from the list: 1K, 10K, 100K, 1M or 10M. There is no free-form number. A new filter starts at "At least 100K".

The filter sentence reads "The track artist has at least 100K followers" or "The track artist has at most 10K followers", and the line under it starts with "Keeps tracks whose artist has at most 10K followers".

The Artist followers filter dialog with the At least and At most cards and the follower count list open — Two operators and five preset counts.

Examples

The track artist has at most 10K followers. Artists you found early. Good for a playlist to share.
The track artist has at least 1M followers and Release date: In the last 30 days. New releases from established artists only.
The track artist has at most 100K followers and The track artist is tagged with one of techno. Small techno producers in your library.
The track artist has at least 10M followers. Only the biggest names.

Things to know

Followers and popularity are different numbers, and an artist can rank high on one and low on the other. Pick the filter that matches what you mean by "big".
A track whose artists cannot be loaded from Spotify has no count and never matches this filter.
An "At most" filter with a small count is a discovery playlist that empties itself as its artists grow. Revisit the count from time to time.

Common questions

How do I see how many followers an artist has on Spotify?

Open the artist's profile in Spotify and look in its About section, where the follower total sits next to monthly listeners. Only the total is public, never the list of who follows. The Artist followers filter reads that same number and keeps tracks whose artist has at least, or at most, the count you pick.

Artist popularity: recent plays rather than follower count.
Artist: a specific artist by name.
Track popularity: the score of the track itself.
Combining filters