Why Do These 16 Classic Songs Have Over 1,000,000,000 Spotify Plays?

In this video I count down the only 16 songs that are 30+ years old and hit over 1 billion plays on Spotify.

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Stephen Dahl
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Jim Sanger
Brian Lawson
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[RickBeato]

I missed one. Guns N’ Roses sweet child of mine has 1.3 billion plays and came out in 1987

[saifdes]

Just back here to say that “Here Comes The Sun” finally hit 1 billion streams on Spotify!

Edit: “Come As You Are” by Nirvana finally hit 1 billion streams as well! And now it’s the second song to hit 1 billion streams by Nirvana.

[hyberr]

"Here Comes The Sun", "Come As You Are", "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", "Fortunate Son", "We Will Rock You", "Eye Of The Tiger" and "Losing My Religion" has hit 1 billion streams on Spotify ever since this video. I'm glad that people are still listening to these classic songs. There are a few others that are on their way to hit 1 billion which are "Dancing Queen", "I Wanna Dance With Somebody", "Sultans Of Swing", "Summer Of 69", "Nothing Else Matters", "Welcome To The Jungle" and "Paint It Black" all with more than 900 mil streams.

[kennet]

"Here Comes the Sun" is on track to reach a billion streams (it currently has 880, 389, 517 streams). With that said, I think one of the reasons why not a single Beatles song has reached that milestone yet is because their catalogue wasn't put on Spotify until late 2015, relatively late compared to many of the major classic bands and artists.

[Suikogiru]

As of now, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody has surpassed 2 Billion streams on Spotify!

[robertlear]

I saw Led Zeppelin in concert in 1969 and 1970. I am 33 days older than Robert Plant. I have never used Spotify. So using Spotify as the yard stick certainly could be influencing the results. If you could measure how many songs have been ripped from a CD to a computer along with Spotify, then you would get more accurate results.

[jleighwolfe]

I agree with that statement about blocking music. Prince is a great example. His music wasnt readily available for the longest time. And that def hurt his cultural relevancy.

[texascat]

What I love about Queen and The Beatles is that they both have many albums so there is always something to be discovered. You can listen to a song many times but then one day it just stands out and you can’t believe you’ve never paid attention before.

[anmolt]

I would say AC/DC songs got a massive boost in popularity by being heavily featured in the Iron Man movies. I think both "Back in Black" and "Thunderstruck" were used

[BushcraftingBogan]

You can't go to a sporting event without hearing Queen or AC/DC. This exposes millenials and GenZ to the songs.

[tdalton]

Queen is a band that seems to be in between classic rock and modern rock, so they still can translate into the modern era. Their music is very dynamic; musically and vocally.

[ramarama-xtxs]

I'm not surprised that Queen are still up to date. There is no other band like them. It's a combination of many things such as the best music catalog with a huge amount of unforgettable hits in different genres, probably the best singer and performer ever, their legendary live performances, their unbelievable artistic diversity, and the perfection of their songs, they were music video pioneers and the list can go on and are just part of our lives because of that not because of the movies.

[stantheman]

Totally agree that we old-timers (I'm 69) have not adopted Spotify. I own all those CDs (and records), and they have been uploaded to my computer and phone. I listen to them via Bluetooth. I know a lot of others in my generation who have done the same.

[slartibartfast]

Also a big contributing factor is that bands like the Beatles have had so many remasters, remixes and versions over the years that the listeners are split over several variations of the same song.

For example, "Let It Be" has the original version, the remastered version, two different 2009 remasters, a 2015 remaster, the 2021 mix, the Super Deluxe version, two different "naked" versions, as well as some live recordings. Many of these songs have identical audio, but they appear as separate songs on Spotify which splits listeners.

[Amuse-bouche]

”Dancing Queen” by ABBA is almost at 1 billion streams as well and they have 28 million monthly listeners. Also a good example of a 70’s band that have been revived and kept relevant with musicals/movies and most recently the virtual concert event in London along with a new album release. Best pop band of all time for me!

EDIT: Now over 1 billion streams 🙌

[chrisbarrettFilmstudio]

I believe that the reason why Thunderstruck has 1 billion+ streams/listens/plays is due to its use in the Marvel Movies specifically Iron Man. So the way that popular culture uses those timeless songs can have a Poignant impact on the musicians and the generations of listeners.

[aerop.]

The biggest reason I'm into Queen as much as I am is because they made their music available on Youtube early on. I didn't appreciate the Beatles until they started doing the same more recently and then I dove into their catalogue and have great respect for them now.

[TheClumsyChicken]

We Will Rock You is about to become the 5th Queen song to have 1 billion views on Spotify, with Bohemian Rhapsody almost at 2 billion. Absolutely insane

[IanLoughead]

A lot of those songs also end up in huge mainstream movies. Anthem rock works perfectly with action movies. Thunderstruck and Sweet Child of Mine are in constant use.

[wesleybrehm]

I'm actually surprised more bands like Pink Floyd, The Beattles, Led Zepplin, etc that are blockers haven't stopped blocking yet. The fact that Dreams was propelled into one of the most played songs ever because of a Tik Tok video should have been enough to wake them up.