Are you a big Queen fan? We are, too so when we heard the new streaming music stats that involved the UK band, we were nodding our head in agreement.
Most likely boosted by the popularity of the new movie, Queen's single 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was just announced as the most-streamed song from the 20th century (announcement made by Universal Music Group, which represents Queen).
We have to remember our math, 20th century means 1900s. What other great song from the 20th century are on the heels of the 1.6 billion streamed 'Bohemian Rhapsody'?
2. Nirvana – 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' – 1.5 billion streams
3. Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine
4. Guns N’ Roses – November Rain
5. a-ha – Take on Me
The 1975 song was Queen's first Top 10 hit in the United States, but in the UK, it was om top for nine consecutive weeks.
In 1992, the song had another jolt to its fame when it was added to the movie 'Wayne's World.'
In 2004, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
YouTube started in 2005 and Spotify one year later.
And now, in 2018, the Queen biopic has grossed almost $600 million worldwide and is nominated for two Golden Globes.
Some reports on the Queen record listed it as the most streamed song in the 21st Century, which is wrong. Who holds the record for most streamed of all time?
Ed Sheeran’s 2017 'Shape of You' has become the first song ever to pass 2 billion streams on Spotify.
| 1. | "Shape of You" | Ed Sheeran | ÷ | 2.004 billion streams | Released 6 January, 2017 |
You can see by the Spotify stream chart at the end of this post that Justin Bieber has been involved with 4 songs that are in the top 15 streamed on Spotify ever.
And if you added together the two versions of Despacito, it would top Sheeran's hit.
| 7. | "Despacito (Remix)" | Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber | Non-album single | 1.169 billion streams | Released 17 April, 2017 |
| 28. | "Despacito" | Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee | Non-album single | 928 million streams | Released 13 January, 2017 |
Add all the streaming platforms together and who has the top song? That would go back to Despacito. A report in July from NPR just 6 months after the initial release states that the combination of the two songs reached 4.6 billion streams.
"Despacito," the Spanish-language summer smash by Puerto Rican stars Luis Fonsi and "king of reggaetón" Daddy Yankee, is now the most-streamed song in history.
On Wednesday, Universal Music, which released the song in January, said the original version of the hit and the subsequent remix featuring Justin Bieber have combined for 4.6 billion plays in just six months. That remix currently sits atop Billboard's summer songs chart.
Most of those plays — 2.6 billion of them — were generated on YouTube from views of the original version's music video, which is the third-most watched video in the site's history. An audio-only post of the Bieber remix has about 425 million plays on YouTube. On Spotify, the two versions were listened to a combined 1.1 billion times. ("Despacito" has yet to unseat Spotify's most-played song, Drake's "One Dance," which is closing in on 1.3 billion plays.) – NPR.com
And those are 18 month old numbers as this video alone on YouTube has over 5.7 billion views.
