Ever since online streaming became the dominant method for consuming music, artists from all walks of life have shifted their perspective to focus on creating viral hits with infinite replay value. Streaming grants billions of listeners from all over the globe an opportunity to tune in to their favorite tracks, from all hours of the day, and from any remote location. As a result, a select few tracks have taken on the prestigious title as highest streaming songs of all time, with hundreds of millions, or even billions of Spotify streams.
So, let’s take a moment to pour over the top 10 most streamed songs. Each track clocks in with a listenership of more than 3 billion, per Spotify. These tracks include TikTok hits, upbeat pop anthems, and a few curveballs that may leave you shocked. Without any further preamble, let’s see what we can learn from the top songs from around the globe. We’ll take a glimpse into the music industry machine in the modern day of streaming apps, viral marketing, and digital content creation.
10. “Believer” by Imagine Dragons
Kicking off our list of highest streaming songs at number 10, we have Imagine Dragons’ 2017 smash hit “Believer.” Despite a staggering 3 billion streams at the time of this writing, “Believer” peaked at number 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts. It undersold other Imagine Dragons cuts like “Radioactive” and “Demons.” Obviously the chart placement of “Believer” is a testament to the fact that industry trends are unpredictable. You never know which songs are going to have long-term success. Though “Believer” has a Halloween themed remix, as well as a rereleased version with a feature verse from Lil Wayne, the original track is the one pulling in billions of listening hours. Its use in numerous films and advertisements helped with that.
Like many songs on this list, “Believer” may trigger something of a PTSD response from retail workers. The song plays on radio stations with great frequency. The catchy tune appears in video games like Just Dance 2022, WWE 2K22, Rock Band 4, and MLB Perfect Inning. Its abrasive pop punk sound and shouting vocals make “Believer” a great karaoke song. Some crowds worry that it’s a bit overplayed, however.
9. “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I
Next up we have the electrifying single “Dance Monkey” by Australian singer-songwriter Tones And I. This track released as the second leading single to Tones’ debut EP The Kids Are Coming. It serves as her first ever single to chart in the United States. “Dance Monkey” debuted to massive acclaim from listeners around the world, and quickly topped the streaming charts in over 38 countries. To this day, the track has amassed over 3.1 billion streams on Spotify, with millions more on outlets such as YouTube and Apple Music. It serves as the all-time highest streaming song by a female artist at the time of this writing.
Tones And I also received tons of accolades and awards for “Dance Monkey,” including Song of the Year from the APRA Music Awards, Best Pop Release from ARIA Music Awards, and the Grand Prize from the 2019 International Songwriting Competition. Though the talented musician has gone on to release two full length LPs and numerous singles, “Dance Monkey” remains her biggest commercial accomplishment.
8. “Stay” by The Kid Laroi and Justin Beiber
Another international entry into this list, “Stay” offers some fast-paced electro-pop synths and vocal performances from Australian singer The Kid Laroi and Canadian pop superstar Justin Bieber. While it’s a bit surprising to see that none of Bieber’s other chart-topping hits are present on this list, fans of Laroi likely knew how big “Stay” would become even before its release. Heavily teased through leaks and social media marketing, the track dropped on streaming services in July of 2021. It quickly debuted at number 1 on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Global 200. Today, the heartbreak anthem carries over 3.2 billion streams, with new listeners flocking to the tune each day.
7. “One Dance” by Drake, featuring Wizkid and Kyla
It should come as no surprise that Drake is a lead artist on one of the highest streaming songs of all time. Drake’s pop-inspired hip hop tracks are often the most commercially successful releases in the modern rap landscape. If you were outside at any time from 2016 through 2020, you’ll certainly remember hearing the dancehall and afrobeats instrumentation of “One Dance” blaring in bars, clubs, shopping outlets, or car radios round the clock. Featuring vocals from Nigerian artist Wizkid and British singer-songwriter Kyla, the track is a time capsule of the era. The sound has become synonymous with the eye-catching cover art of Drake’s fourth studio album Views.
Today, “One Dance” has collected just under 3.3 billion streams through Spotify alone. Given Drake’s ravenous fan base, it wouldn’t be shocking to see this track surpass that mark by the end of this calendar year. Drizzy has since gone on to release several chart-topping albums with other massive singles. Therfore, “One Dance” has sort of fallen out of the cultural rotation. Still, if you graduated from high school or college during the peak streaming days of this smash-hit, expect to hear it at reunions for the rest of your life.
6. “Starboy” by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
Much like Drake, The Weeknd is an internationally-recognized superstar who hails from Toronto, Canada. Unlike the former however, The Weeknd is the only artist to appear more than once on the list of highest streaming songs of all time. The Weeknd’s second-highest grossing record, “Starboy,” released in September 2016 as the leading single to his third studio album, which bears the same name. Legendary French electronic duo Daft Punk join the pop megastar on this single, with a stunning performance that clearly paid off in dividends. Surprisingly, “Starboy” is the only Daft Punk track to ever top the Billboard Hot 100. Today, “Starboy” maintains a record high of over 3.4 billion Spotify streams. It boasts another 2.5 billion views on the Grant Singer-helmed music video.
5. “Sunflower” by Post Malone featuring Swae Lee
You’d be right to assume that most of the songs on this list are completely ubiquitous. However, it could be argued that none have permeated throughout all corners of pop culture quite as powerfully as “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Rae Sremmurd’s Swae Lee. This track, recorded as part of the official soundtrack for the 2018 movie Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, was an instant smash with general audiences and critics alike. It continues to appear on Summer party playlists to this very day. “Sunflower” contains some truly heavenly vocal passages from both pop-rap artists on the track. The song was later repurposed for Post Malone’s 2019 album Hollywood’s Bleeding.
Like many other hit singles on this list, “Sunflower” peaked at number 1 on the Billboard charts. It remained within the top 10 for a staggering 33 weeks. Not only is “Sunflower” one of the highest streaming songs of all time, it also received acclaim from the Academy Awards. The track received nominations for both Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the Grammys. This highly catchy tune was also a massive financial success, raking in over 13 million global sale-equivalent units in the year 2019 alone.
4. “As It Was” by Harry Styles
Harry Styles may be one of the most popular and influential taste-makers in the modern pop culture space. Because of that, it’s understanable that he’d end up high on the list of highest streaming songs of all time. In fact, Styles’ name is all over the streaming charts, with a number of tracks touting millions upon millions of listeners. According to his Spotify page, Styles currently holds a monthly listenership of more than 52.3 million users. The 30-year-old artist dropped “As It Was” in April of 2022. That 2022 release makes it the most recently released song to land on this list.
The track is the lead single for Styles’ latest studio album, Harry’s House. It’s his second chart-topping single in the United States, where it spent 15 non-consecutive weeks at number 1. This makes “As It Was” the longest-running chart-topper by a UK artist in US history, the first accolade of many for this major smash.
3. “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi
Some have called emerging Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi the next Ed Sheeran. The moniker is quite apt if you look ahead just a bit on this very list. Some have favorably dished this nickname out to the 2020 Brit Award’s Best New Artist winner. Others place Capaldi’s strenuous vocal melodies and emotional chords in their own league. For evidence of such claims, look no further than Capaldi’s smash 2018 hit “Someone You Loved.”
Despite “Someone You Loved” taking some time to reach number 1 on the Billboard US charts, the track was an immediate smash overseas. Topping the streaming charts in the UK, plus Germany, Poland, Brazil, France, Canada, and Australia, Capaldi had a hit. The harrowing heartbreak anthem is said to have taken Lewis Capaldi over six months to write and record. This was before eventually landing on his debut EP Breach. It then made an appearance on Capaldi’s debut LP Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent.
2. “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran
Speaking of Ed Sheeran, the UK-born singer-songwriter is responsible for delivering one of the catchiest tunes on this entire list. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 7 years, you’ve no doubt heard “Shape of You” so many times you can likely recite it front to back entirely from memory. The chart-topping single serves as a close second to the highest streaming song of all time, with 3.9 billion streams. It’s likely on pace to reach over 4 billion by the end of 2024. The track is instantly recognizable, world-renown, and exponentially popular, even when placed alongside Ed Sheeran’s other massive hits.
1. “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd
Finally, we have the single highest streaming song of all time, with The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights.” This track, the second single on the pop singer’s 2020 album After Hours has the distinct honor of being the only song in streaming history to have amassed more than 4 billion streams overall. It clocks in with more than 4.3 billion all totaled. Aided by the timing of its release, “Blinding Lights” became an anthem to score the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. It was an instant hit with endless replay value. The single remained on the Billboard charts for a positively staggering 90 weeks, and briefly held the title of longest-charting song in history.
“Blinding Lights” has been universally hailed by critics and general audiences alike for its 1980s aesthetic, synthwave influences, and an impeccable vocal performance from The Weeknd. The song has been out for only 4 years. However, it’s difficult to imagine a circumstance where “Blinding Lights” is dethroned as the number 1 streaming song of all time. Any way you slice it, The Weeknd is a certified hit-maker. There’s no telling what exciting new sounds he’ll develop for his next chart-topping body of work.
