The Billions Club: songs past one billion Spotify streams

The most-streamed song in Spotify's history, full stop. A neon, Tears for Fears-indebted synth-pop rush from 2019's After Hours, it spent a record-breaking run on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the first song to clear four billion streams.

For years the most-streamed song on the entire platform. Sheeran reportedly almost gave it away to Rihanna; instead its marimba hook made ÷ unavoidable in 2017 and minted one of streaming's defining numbers.

A piano ballad about heartbreak that the Scottish singer wrote thinking of his grandmother. It topped charts worldwide in 2019 and became one of the UK's biggest streaming songs ever.

A busker's novelty turned global phenomenon. Toni Watson recorded it in a beach town in Australia; that warped, helium vocal then went on to become one of the most-streamed songs of all time.

The breezy, weightless duet with Swae Lee from the Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack, proof an animated superhero movie could spin off a multi-billion-stream smash.

A slow-burn miracle: released in 2020, it climbed for over a year before topping the US chart, riding a wave of short-form video. The very definition of the streaming-era sleeper hit.

Daft Punk lend their robotic shimmer to the title track of 2016's Starboy. A statement of arrival that's since become one of the decade's most-played records.

The synth-pop heart of 2022's Harry's House, bittersweet lyrics wrapped in an irresistibly bright pulse. It rocketed to a billion streams faster than almost anything before it.

Disco revivalism done flawlessly. A standout from Future Nostalgia, it became a year-long radio fixture and one of the defining pop songs of the early 2020s.

The whispered, bass-heavy single that made Eilish a teenage superstar and knocked "Old Town Road" off the top of the charts in 2019. Minimalist and instantly iconic.

A two-minute jolt of heartbreak co-piloted by Justin Bieber. Built for the short-video age, it became one of 2021's biggest songs almost overnight.

The debut single that arrived fully formed in January 2021 and shattered Spotify records on the way to a billion plays, teenage heartbreak rendered with startling specificity.

A serene, sinister revenge fantasy from 2022's SOS. Its eerie calm made it one of the biggest songs of 2023 and SZA's first true streaming monster.

All stomping drums and bruised resilience, "Believer" turned 2017's Evolve into a stadium-rock juggernaut and became one of the most-licensed, most-streamed rock songs of its era.

The hazy, 21 Savage-featuring single that announced Post Malone as a chart force. It sat at number one for weeks in 2017 and helped redraw the line between rap and pop.

The wedding-first-dance standard of its generation. A waltz-time ballad from ÷ that, helped by a Beyoncé duet, gave Sheeran a second billion-stream song off the same album.

The slow-dance ballad from 2014's x that proved Sheeran could write an enduring standard. One of the first songs ever to pass a billion streams on Spotify.

Ronson and Bruno Mars bottled the joy of vintage funk into the inescapable single of 2015. A throwback so good it outsold most of what it was paying tribute to.

A barbed, Ed Sheeran-penned kiss-off carried by little more than an acoustic guitar and a trumpet. The quiet center of Bieber's blockbuster reinvention on Purpose.

The tropical-house apology that made Purpose a juggernaut in 2015. Skrillex and BloodPop's production turned contrition into a dancefloor staple.

The Halsey-featuring smash that ruled the summer of 2016, a duet about nostalgia and a mattress, somehow, that spent twelve weeks at number one.

A collaboration with Coldplay that married EDM build to Chris Martin's everyman yearning. Engineered for arenas, and streamed like it.

Sleek, falsetto-driven pop-funk whose wedding-crashing video became a phenomenon of its own. One of the band's most durable streaming hits.

Adam Levine over the chord progression of Pachelbel's Canon, written as an elegy for a late manager. Simple, sentimental, and streamed by the billion.

The self-empowerment anthem (a numbered list for getting over an ex) that broke Dua Lipa worldwide in 2017 off her debut album.

The bass-popping lead single that reframed Dua Lipa as a disco auteur and kicked off the Future Nostalgia era in late 2019.

Cabello's first solo number one (a sultry, piano-driven ode to her birthplace, featuring Young Thug) that became one of 2017's biggest crossovers.

The smoldering duet with Camila Cabello that lit up 2019 (and the tabloids). A slow-burn pop seduction streamed past a billion with ease.

Originally written for Rihanna, this dancehall-tinged pop song became Sia's first US number one, a Friday-night anthem with a defiantly broke heart.

The towering, voice-cracking 2014 single about partying to escape pain. Its Maddie Ziegler dance video became a cultural touchstone.

The thunderous, gospel-tinged lead single from 21 that made Adele a global force in 2011, a breakup turned into a force of nature.

Just a voice and a piano, and one of the most devastating breakup ballads ever recorded. The song that sealed 21 as a generational album.

The four-years-later comeback that broke records the week it arrived in 2015. A booming meditation on regret, delivered with operatic force.

Slick, finger-snapping R&B from 2016's 24K Magic, Mars at his most effortlessly charming, and a Grammy winner for Song of the Year.

A gleaming Police homage that powered Unorthodox Jukebox to the top in 2012. Proof Mars could channel new-wave swagger and make it sound brand new.

The Afro-dancehall pivot that became Drake's first solo number one and, for a time, Spotify's most-streamed song ever. The sound of pop going global.

A victory lap that debuted at number one in 2018 and stayed there, its goodwill-spreading video as talked-about as the song. Pure streaming-era dominance.

The lonely, meme-spawning slow jam whose dad-dancing video became inescapable in 2015. A turning point in how a song could live online.

The first rap song to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Twenty years on, its one-shot intensity still draws billions of plays, the ultimate seize-the-moment anthem.

The volcanic Rihanna duet about a toxic relationship that dominated 2010 and gave Eminem's comeback album its emotional center.

Six minutes of breathless technical showboating, including a passage once recognized as one of the fastest in a hit song. A monument to pure rapping.

The gleefully provocative 2002 smash that turned controversy into a sing-along. Decades later it remains one of his most-streamed records.

The Mike Will Made-It banger that gave Kendrick his first solo number one in 2017 and a Pulitzer-winning album its hardest-hitting single.

A shape-shifting, three-beat epic with a Drake assist, the centerpiece of Astroworld and a defining rap song of the late 2010s.

Hypnotic, Kid Cudi-featuring psychedelia that grew from album cut to streaming behemoth, eventually becoming one of Scott's signature songs.

Built on a Sting sample, this 2018 breakout fused emo melancholy and melodic rap. It became the late artist's defining song and a multi-billion-stream landmark.

A two-and-a-half-minute burst of anguished pop-rap that hit number one shortly before the artist's death in 2018. Raw, fragile, and enormously streamed.

Donald Glover's falsetto psych-soul slow jam, a Funkadelic homage that crept onto the charts and never left. "Stay woke" entered the lexicon through it.

The country-trap meme that smashed the record for the longest-ever run at number one in 2019. A genre debate, a cultural earthquake, and a billion-plus streams.

A reflective, T-Minus-produced standalone single from 2019 in which Cole takes stock of his place between rap generations. His biggest streaming hit.

The folk-EDM fusion that startled dance purists and conquered the world in 2013. Aloe Blacc's vocal over Avicii's banjo-house remains a festival hymn.

A galloping, life-affirming anthem ("live a life you will remember") that has only grown more poignant since the Swedish producer's death.

The Norwegian teenager's masked-DJ breakthrough: a ghostly, plummeting EDM ballad that became one of the most-streamed dance tracks ever.

Sia's soaring, anonymous-at-the-time vocal over Guetta's stadium build, the 2011 song that helped push EDM into the global pop mainstream.

Harris and Dua Lipa's sun-drenched 2018 house single, a UK chart fixture for an entire summer and one of the slickest pop-dance records of the decade.

A minimalist, Rihanna-fronted festival anthem from 2016, restraint as a hook, and one of Harris's most-streamed productions.

Diplo's globe-spanning smash with DJ Snake and MØ, once Spotify's most-streamed song of all time, and a blueprint for the decade's pop-dance crossover.

The track that defined tropical house: Kygo's gentle, marimba-lit production under Conrad Sewell's vocal. A genre's calling card, streamed past a billion.

A string-laced ode to single mothers with Sean Paul and Anne-Marie, the UK Christmas number one of 2016 and the group's biggest global hit.

Classical-pop maximalism with Zara Larsson on lead, Clean Bandit's signature move, orchestral swell meeting a four-on-the-floor pulse.

The helmeted producer's bittersweet 2018 collaboration with Bastille, a euphoric melody hiding a heartbreaking lyric, streamed into the billions.

Ryan Tedder's restless, foot-stomping anthem from 2013 that quietly became one of the most-streamed pop-rock songs of the decade.

A folk lament built on a single aching truth, you only miss the light when it's gone. The British busker's worldwide breakthrough, and an early billion-stream song.

The Charlie Puth-assisted tribute to the late Paul Walker from the Furious 7 soundtrack, a song of grief that became one of the most-played of the 2010s.

Puth's bass-driven 2017 single that revealed him as a craftsman in his own right, not just a featured voice. A masterclass in pop economy.

The Kimbra-featuring 2011 breakup duet, built on a Luiz Bonfá sample, that became an inescapable global number one, and an enduring streaming staple.

An anxious, nostalgic anthem for a generation priced out of adulthood. The song that broke the Ohio duo wide open in 2015.

A brooding, minimal soundtrack single from 2016 that became one of the band's biggest hits and a streaming heavyweight.

The dubstep-rock slow build that spent a then-record number of weeks on the Hot 100 and helped make Imagine Dragons unavoidable.

The confessional ballad from Night Visions whose chorus became a karaoke and sync-licensing standard. Quietly one of their most-streamed songs.

A skittering, helium-hooked outlier from Evolve that proved the band could do bright, weird pop as easily as arena rock, and rack up billions doing it.

The smoldering 2013 debut single (a soul-rock protest against shame and dogma) that made the Irish singer a star and remains a streaming colossus.

A ukulele-driven indie-folk earworm with the strangest, stickiest lyrics in recent pop. The Australian's 2013 breakout and an enduring billion-stream favorite.

The stomp-and-holler folk anthem that defined a whole 2012 moment, and the song that introduced the Denver band to the world.

A haunted, reverb-soaked ballad of regret that found a vast new audience through 13 Reasons Why and climbed past a billion streams years after release.

Cinematic melancholy turned dancefloor hit once a remix took hold in 2013. The cornerstone of Lana Del Rey's cult, and a long-tail streaming staple.

Her gorgeous, doom-laden contribution to the 2013 Great Gatsby soundtrack, a question ("will you still love me?") that streaming answered with a billion plays.

The hushed, string-swept duet with Khalid, written for 13 Reasons Why, that became one of Eilish's most-streamed early songs, beauty and dread in perfect balance.

The Daddy Yankee-featuring song that broke down language barriers in 2017, became the first video to hit billions of views, and pulled Latin pop into the global mainstream for good.

Balvin and Willy William's reggaeton-house monster from 2017 (later given a Beyoncé remix) that helped make Spanish-language pop a default setting of global streaming.

A spare, hypnotic Jhay Cortez collaboration that topped charts in 2020 and confirmed Bad Bunny as one of the biggest artists on the planet.

The frantic, shape-shifting standout from one of the most-streamed albums ever. Reggaeton with the restlessness of a panic attack, and just as catchy.

The Wyclef Jean-assisted 2006 smash that became one of the best-selling singles of the century, and, decades on, a billion-stream catalog giant.

The 2004 single that detonated reggaeton's global takeover. Long before streaming existed, it laid the groundwork, and it has since piled up a billion plays of its own.

A wistful, almost soft-rock turn from 2019 that showed off Post Malone's melodic range and spent a marathon run near the top of the charts.

The tender, looped-guitar ballad from x (written about distance and memory) that became a quiet juggernaut and another of Sheeran's billion-stream entries.

The other monster off After Hours: glossy '80s heartbreak-pop whose Ariana Grande remix pushed it back to number one. A second billion-stream single from one album.

The murky, menacing 2015 number one that crystallized the Weeknd's dark allure on his breakthrough album. A streaming staple a decade on.

The disco-funk single, supercharged by a viral dance, that turned Doja Cat into a superstar in 2020 and gave her her first billion-stream hit.

Sun-warmed, brass-flecked pop hedonism from Fine Line, Styles's first US number one and a song that tasted like summer to a locked-down 2020.

The 1985 synth-pop landmark, famous for its pencil-sketch video, that found an entirely new generation through streaming and crossed a billion plays, one of the oldest songs to do so.

Freddie Mercury's six-minute mock-operatic epic from 1975, and one of the most-streamed songs from the twentieth century, its 2018 biopic only widening the audience.

The 1991 detonation that dragged alternative rock into the mainstream. Three decades later it remains a billion-stream rite of passage for every new wave of teenagers.

Stevie Nicks's serene kiss-off from 1977's Rumours, written in ten minutes, and reborn as a streaming smash in 2020 after a cranberry-juice skateboard video went viral.

The 1981 arena-rock anthem that refused to fade, helped along by a Sopranos finale and a thousand karaoke nights. Streaming made it bigger than ever.

Sting's beautiful, deeply unsettling song about surveillance disguised as a love song, the band's biggest hit in 1983, and a billion-stream catalog perennial.

The gloriously overblown 1982 soft-rock touchstone whose meme-driven revival made it one of the most-streamed songs of its decade, forty years on.

Slash's instantly recognizable riff and Axl Rose's wail, the 1987 ballad that became the band's only US number one and a billion-stream hard-rock landmark.

The 2004 debut single that never left, a jealous, breathless indie-rock anthem that has spent a near-permanent residency on the UK chart and racked up billions of plays.

Britpop's defining sing-along, and the song every guitar in a dorm room eventually attempts. A 1995 monument that streaming turned into one of the era's biggest catalog hits.