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Spotify added 10 million new users in the last two months of 2014, taking it to 60 million at the end of the year - despite its much publicised row with Taylor Swift.

15 million of those users were paying subscribers, up from 12.5 million in early November, when Spotify last released figures at the height of its dispute with the musician.

However, it comes as Apple is believed to be preparing to relaunch the Beats Music service it bought alongside the headphone maker as an iTunes streaming service.

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Spotify added 10 million new users in the last two months of 2014, taking it to 60 million at the end of the year - despite its much publicised row with Taylor Swift.

'We had an amazing 2014 at Spotify and owe it all to you, the music fans who listen, discover, share and celebrate music and artists with us every day of the yea,' the firm said.

'And before 2014 turned into 2015, we reached 15 million subscribers and 60 million active users!

'So as we set off into the new year, we want to send a giant thank you to all of you. We can't wait for the year in music ahead!'

Late last year the firm revamped its pricing,offering people three months of its premium subscription service for $0.99, rather than the usual monthly cost of $9.99.

The company also introduced its 'family plan' in November, enabling subscribers to add up to four family members with their own accounts on the service for $4.99 a month. 

'More than 80% of our subscribers started as free users,' wrote Ek in his November blog post responding to the furore around Swift's removal of her music from Spotify.

 'If you take away only one thing, it should be this: No free, no paid, no two billion dollars.'

The latter figure related to the amount of royalties paid out by Spotify since its launch in 2008, including $1bn paid out in 2014 alone.

Taylor Swift removed her entire back catalog from music streaming service Spotify as she was promoting new album 1989, which sold 1.287 copies in its first week, just shy of Britney Spears' record for the biggest-ever album weekly sales by a female artist (1.319million).

'If I had streamed the new album, it's impossible to try to speculate what would have happened,' Taylor told Yahoo of leaving Spotify.

'Music is changing so quickly, and the landscape of the music industry itself is changing so quickly, that everything new, like Spotify, all feels to me a bit like a grand experiment. And I'm not willing to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music.' 

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran was the year's most streamed artist on Spotify, while Eminem tops the list in the United States.

Pharrell's ubiquitous 'Happy' was the most streamed song of the year globally.

Sheeran racked up more than 860 million listens on Spotify. His latest album, 'x,' is the most streamed album worldwide with 430 million streams.

Katy Perry and Coldplay were the most streamed female and group around the world, respectively.

Late last year the firm revamped its pricing,offering people three months of its premium subscription service for $0.99, rather than the usual monthly cost of $9.99. 

In the United States, Iggy Azalea's 'Fancy' was the most streamed song of the year. Her album, 'The New Classic,' was the second most streamed album in America behind Sheeran's 'x.'

Spotify said more than seven billion hours of music was streamed this year by more than 50 million users. It will reward listeners this month by offering new U.S. users a premium, three-month membership for just 99 cents.

This year, Spotify experienced a shake-up when Taylor Swift decided to remove all of her music from the streaming service in late October. Some artists followed by removing some of their music from Spotify, including country star Jason Aldean.

Behind Sheeran on the global list are Eminem, Calvin Harris, Avicii and David Guetta. On the U.S. tally, Drake, Kanye West, Lana Del Rey and Ariana Grande follow Eminem.

Hozier's 'Take Me to Church,' currently No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, was the most viral track globally and in the U.S.