This song just hit 4 billion Spotify streams!
Image credit: Ali Mammadli
An incredible streaming milestone on Spotify is how we’re beginning 2024, set to be the biggest year for music listening ever.
We’ve started the year with a record. The Weeknd just became the first artist to reach 4 billion Spotify streams on a single song. ‘Blinding Lights’ reached the astonishing number of streams this week.
First The Weeknd’s hit became the first song to spend an entire year in the Billboard Top 10. Listeners still couldn’t get enough of it as it broke US chart records, staying in the Hot 100 for 88 weeks. In November 2021, Blinding Lights took the place of Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” as the No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 track of all time.
The Weeknd wrote: “I’ll never stop being humbled by anything I create making its way to millions of people – let alone billions! I’m so thankful this song makes people feel a way that they keep going back to listen.”
The lasting success of Blinding Lights is reflected across all of The Weeknd’s catalogue. He currently stands as the No. 1 artist on Spotify, thanks to 113 monthly listeners. Last year, songs online were streamed an incredible 7 trillion times – a huge jump from the year before.
The Weeknd claims that it came at the right time, saying: “By the time ‘Blinding lights’ happened, I was 10 years into my career and established as a music figure in the industry already. So I’m glad ‘Blinding Lights’ happened when it happened as opposed to it being the first single I’ve ever dropped. That’d be scary for me.”
Spotify’s global head of music, Jeremy Elrich said: “The Weeknd continues to reach new heights year after year on Spotify. This is one of many records he has broken with us. As our platform continues to grow globally, his music reaches more and more people, and his fandom deepens. The success of ‘Blinding Lights’ is a prime example that nothing connects people more than music. It’s an exceptional song in a class of its own.”
In the last year, the multi-Grammy award-winning artist broke the record for the highest attendance at a live concert. The Weeknd had record attendance at his shows in the London Stadium last year. He then went on to break the record for the number of ticket sales at Wembley Stadium just months later.