Music streaming service Spotify says its paying subscribers have reached 100 million for the first time, up 32% on the year and almost twice the latest figures for Apple Music.

The Stockholm-based company called the figure, which was reached during the first three months of 2019, “an important milestone.” The growth was driven, among other things, by “a better-than-planned promotion in the U.S. and Canada.”

“In March, we extended our partnership with Google by expanding our Google Home Mini promotion to two new markets, the UK and France. The new promotional offer is substantially similar to the deal offered in the US in Q4,” the company added.

“In the UK and France, new and existing Family Plan master account holders can claim a free Google Home Mini voice speaker. We believe that
voice speakers are a critical area of growth, particularly for music and podcasts, and we intend to continue to pursue opportunities to expand our presence in that area.”

Spotify also said its expansion to India has netted 2 million customers.

Spotify said Monday it had reached “the high end of our guidance range of 97-100 million.”

“Results for Q1 2019 were largely positive with most metrics outperforming our expectations and landing at the high end of, or exceeding, our Q1 guidance,” the company added.

By comparison, archrival Apple Music had about 50 million paying subscribers at the end of 2018, the latest available figures. Apple is expected to release new figures with its earnings report on Tuesday.

Read more about Spotify’s earnings online.