Apple has clocked up 28 million US-based paid subscribers for its streaming music service as of the end of February, compared with No. 2 rival Spotify’s 26 million.

Both companies charge US$9.99 a month for subscriptions, though Spotify still has more total US listeners than an Apple, thanks to an ad-supported free tier of its service with fewer features.

Analysts also believe Spotify has a stronger subscriber position than Apple outside the USA.

Neither Apple nor Spotify disclose country-level listener data, and both companies declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Apple has overtaken Spotify on the metric.