San Francisco, Feb 5 (IANS): With 36 million paid subscribers, Apple Music is set to overtake its rival Spotify music streaming services in the US with a growth rate of five per cent a month versus Spotify's two per cent.

"Apple Inc.'s streaming-music service, introduced in June 2015, has been adding subscribers in the US more rapidly than its older Swedish rival," The Wall Street Journal reported late on Sunday.

The US is the largest market for music streaming with 30 million paying subscribers and Apple's growth there means that it is becoming a serious challenger to Spotify.

"The Cupertino-based giant's growth has been fuelled in part by its devices in the hands of consumers and with the release of its $349 "HomePod" smart speaker system slated next week, it will have another outlet through which customers can listen," the report added.

However, Spotify is a global leader when it comes to music streaming. Earlier this year, the company had announced that it had 70 million paying subscribers.

The company's influence is considerably stronger in other parts of the world, where Android devices have a clear majority and the service itself has been around for longer, according to Engadget.