Olivia Rodrigo's hit "drivers license" just became the latest song to crack a billion streams on Spotify, and it joins a list of 167 tracks to have hit the milestone. It's the newest song on the list, so that raises the question: what are the oldest songs on the list?
Spotify streams paint a flawed and incomplete picture of how popular a song is — which is what makes them so interesting. The company has only existed since 2006, has been in the U.S. since 2011, and launched in Canada in 2014. The user base (which consists of 365 million active users, as of Q2 2021) skews young; around 55 percent of U.S. users are between 18 and 34 [via Business of Apps].
Looking at the oldest songs with a billion streams, we can see which classic songs have been embraced by a new generation. And the results are a little different from what you might expect — there's nothing from the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, but a whopping three songs by Queen (likely assisted by the success of the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody). Titans from the '80s like Michael Jackson, Madonna or Prince are absent in favour of Toto and Journey. And there are only two songs from the 1990s. Coldplay's 2002 hit "The Scientist" missed out on appearing this list by just one week.
All totals below are as of August 13, 2021, at around 11:30 a.m. ET.
The 10 Oldest Songs with a Billion Spotify Streams:
1. Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975)
Total streams: 1,586,676,306
2. Queen - "Don't Stop Me Now" (1978)
Total streams: 1,120,365,934
3. Queen - "Another One Bites the Dust" (1980)
Total streams: 1,077,261,431
4. Journey - "Don't Stop Believin'" (1981)
Total streams: 1,109,099,182
5. Toto - "Africa" (1982)
Total streams: 1,043,129,468
6. Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991)
Total streams: 1,039,552,178
7. Oasis - "Wonderwall" (1995)
Total streams: 1,203,785,689
8. Linkin Park - "In the End" (2000)
Total streams: 1,048,362,679
9. Eminem - "'Till I Collapse" (ft. Nate Dogg) (2002)
Total streams: 1,114,046,452
10. Eminem - "Lose Yourself" (2002)
Total streams: 1,180,033,434
Spotify streams paint a flawed and incomplete picture of how popular a song is — which is what makes them so interesting. The company has only existed since 2006, has been in the U.S. since 2011, and launched in Canada in 2014. The user base (which consists of 365 million active users, as of Q2 2021) skews young; around 55 percent of U.S. users are between 18 and 34 [via Business of Apps].
Looking at the oldest songs with a billion streams, we can see which classic songs have been embraced by a new generation. And the results are a little different from what you might expect — there's nothing from the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, but a whopping three songs by Queen (likely assisted by the success of the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody). Titans from the '80s like Michael Jackson, Madonna or Prince are absent in favour of Toto and Journey. And there are only two songs from the 1990s. Coldplay's 2002 hit "The Scientist" missed out on appearing this list by just one week.
All totals below are as of August 13, 2021, at around 11:30 a.m. ET.
The 10 Oldest Songs with a Billion Spotify Streams:
1. Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975)
Total streams: 1,586,676,306
2. Queen - "Don't Stop Me Now" (1978)
Total streams: 1,120,365,934
3. Queen - "Another One Bites the Dust" (1980)
Total streams: 1,077,261,431
4. Journey - "Don't Stop Believin'" (1981)
Total streams: 1,109,099,182
5. Toto - "Africa" (1982)
Total streams: 1,043,129,468
6. Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991)
Total streams: 1,039,552,178
7. Oasis - "Wonderwall" (1995)
Total streams: 1,203,785,689
8. Linkin Park - "In the End" (2000)
Total streams: 1,048,362,679
9. Eminem - "'Till I Collapse" (ft. Nate Dogg) (2002)
Total streams: 1,114,046,452
10. Eminem - "Lose Yourself" (2002)
Total streams: 1,180,033,434
