Tyler, The Creator was announced today as Apple Music’s Artist of the Year, recognizing the hip-hop visionary’s exceptional impact on music and culture in 2025.
Tyler’s output through the end of 2025 has solidified his position as one of the most gifted creatives of his era. On Apple Music, Tyler had his best year in terms of streams, listeners and listening hours worldwide, with fans around the world logging over 4.5 billion listening minutes between November 2024 and October 2025.
Tyler kicked off the year with his most ambitious and successful tour in support of his most personal album to date – the just-released CHROMAKOPY. This extraordinary feat of world-building and character exploration became his most successful album on Apple Music in terms of first-day and first-week streams. But he wasn’t done creating. He wrote, recorded and released another album mid-tour: DO NOT TAP THE GLASSa brief but satisfying blast of urgent, stripped-down rap that’s very different from its predecessor, and which shot to number one on Apple Music’s overall charts in over 55 countries on the day of its release.
These singularly vivid and wildly divergent visions of hip-hop come from a most fearless generational artist – all in a year that included headliners at Governors Ball, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands and Osheaga. The year will also see the 11th annual Camp Flog Gnaw in Los Angeles, the festival that Tyler built himself.
“Tyler continues to prove that anything is possible. His creativity has been incredible all year,” said Zane Lowe, Apple Music Global Creative Director and Apple Music 1 lead presenter. “His creative risk-taking is matched only by the care he takes in presenting it, and he inspires his peers and fans now, just as he will continue to inspire generations to come.”
“To everyone who listens to my music, thank you,” Tyler said. “I appreciate you so much. This year, for my career, has been the biggest yet. To be Apple Music Artist of the Year this year is sick. I appreciate the love. I appreciate the recognition. It means a lot to me, especially for the music and the things that I do. Please continue to support people who are a little outside the box in the way they do things; it means a lot to us.”
To top it all off, Tyler’s vision and cultural footprint extends far beyond music. He will soon make his film debut in Marty Supremethe period drama directed by Josh Safdie starring Timothée Chalamet, and it closes 2025 with five new GRAMMY nominations for both CHROMAKOPY And DO NOT TAP THE GLASS.
As Apple Music Artist of the Year, Tyler will receive a physical award that represents the extraordinary craftsmanship inherent in creating music. Each Apple Music Award features a custom Apple silicon wafer suspended between a polished sheet of glass and a machined, anodized aluminum body. In a symbolic gesture, the same chip that powers the devices that put more than 100 million songs at listeners’ fingertips also sits at the very heart of the Apple Music Awards.
