Spotify users who pay a monthly fee for its advert-free music streaming service stood at 87 million at end-Q3, a 40 per cent year-on-year increase, as it retained its lead ahead of Apple Music’s 43.5 million paid users.

The company expects these subscribers hit between 93 million and 96 million in Q4, an increase of 30 per cent to 36 per cent year-on-year.

Spotify also has 109 million users of the free version of its app at the cost of being interrupted by advertisements, up 20 per cent from Q3 2017.

“Growth in our emerging regions of Latin America and rest of world continues to outpace growth in our more established markets,” the company said in a statement.

Total Q3 revenue was €1.35 billion, up 31 per cent year-on-year, while operating loss was €6 million, a 92 per cent improvement from €73 million in the 2017 quarter.

In Q4, the company expects total revenue to be between €1.35 billion and €1.55 billion and predicted operating income would range from a loss of €35 million to a profit of €15 million.

Earlier in the week Spotify announced it will offer Google Home Mini speakers to account holders of its family plan in the US during the holiday selling period in a bid to stay ahead of another rival, Amazon Music, which is linked to Amazon’s Echo smart speaker ecosystem.