Spotify last Thursday night tweeted a polite brag that it now has more than 70 million paying subscribers. The sneaky tweet means the streaming service has already generated three big music business headlines this year, though this was the first one to stem from an official announcement.

First there was the big $1.6 billion royalties lawsuit in the US. Plus there were reports that Spotify used the Christmas break – when everyone was otherwise occupied – to file some confidential paperwork in relation to its long awaited stock market listing.

Spotify will become a publicly traded company via an unusual direct listing rather than a cash-generating initial public offering, the hope seemingly being that the former approach will come with less risk. Reports now suggest that, following a filing with the US Securities And Exchange Commission over the Christmas break, Spotify could arrive on the New York Stock Exchange in the first quarter of this year.

Given Spotify’s future success is more dependent on its premium service than its ad-funded platform, the latest premium user stats brag will help as it continues in its march to Wall Street. It last updated its official paying user numbers back in July last year when it passed the 60 million mark, meaning the next ten million were added in just over six months.