Women Like Beyonce & Men Like Katy Perry, Spotify Finds

There's a lot of feminist and female empowerment messages in Beyonce's album Beyoncé, with tracks like "Flawless" and "Pretty Hurts." That may help explain why Beyonce is the most listened-to female artist among female listeners on Spotify.

The digital service released a list of its top female artists globally and in key territories in anticipation of International Women's Day, the global celebration of women's achievements that's observed March 8.

When it came to all listeners, however, Beyonce was not the head female act.

Honors went instead to Rihanna, the most-streamed female artist worldwide. Her standing was helped by "The Monster," her duet with Eminem, which has been streamed over 200 million times on Spotify. Rihanna was followed on the most-listened to list overall by Katy Perry, with Beyonce in third place.

When it came to male listeners, their favorite female act was Perry, followed by Lana del Rey and Lorde, with Beyonce at No. 6.

For 2014, Spotify's most-listened to act wasn't a woman. Instead, Ed Sheeran came in as the most-listened-to artist overall, with more than 860 million listens on Spotify. His album X was the most-streamed album worldwide with 430 million streams in 2014. Pharrell's "Happy" was the most-streamed song of 2014 globally.

What the girls like: The most-listened to female artists among female listeners