The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ has officially become the most streamed song on Spotify. The 2019 track overtook Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ to take the top spot, with over 3.334 billion streams on the platform according to Chartdata. ‘Shape of You’ sits just below on 3.332 billion plays at the time of writing, which is hardly shabby. Australian artist Tones and I is in third spot, with more than 2.7 billion streams for ‘Dance Monkey’.
In 2021, The Weeknd’s song broke the Billboard Hot 100 record for the most number of weeks spent in the chart, having now been in there for more than 100 weeks. According to NME, it also knocked over a load of other records: the most weeks spent in the top five of the chart, the most weeks spent in the top 10, and the most weeks spent in the top 40.
The Weeknd: ‘Blinding Lights’
“Happy new years to ‘Blinding Lights’,” The Weeknd wrote on Twitter. “The most streamed song of all time tonight.”
‘Blinding Lights’ was released in November 2019 as the second single from The Weeknd’s album After Hours, which dropped in March 2020. The album was critically acclaimed and hugely successful, and there was widespread criticism when it failed to score any nominations at the Grammys. The Weeknd – Abel Tesfaye – called the Grammys “corrupt” and said the organisation owed him and his fans transparency.
The Grammys responded, noting Tesfaye’s disappointment and asserting the awards are peer-voted. The Grammys also refuted the widely held belief that the snub was due to The Weeknd’s Super Bowl performance announcement – he was previously booked to perform at the award ceremony a week before the Super Bowl, and it was speculated that the nominations snub was due to the Grammys being annoyed at him booking another performance so close to the event.
Tesfaye has since stated he’ll forbid his record label from putting his work forward for Grammys consideration in the future.
Further Reading
Oscars 2023: Rihanna, The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, LCD Soundsystem and More Nominated
Triple J Has Revealed Its Most Played Artists Of 2022
Spotify Wrapped: Australia’s Most Streamed Artists, Songs, Albums & Podcasts Of 2022
