5 Most Popular Songs of the Spotify Era

Streaming has allowed everyone to listen to the songs they love without having to find a CD player or search for the song on YouTube and have an entire video load. More than any other streaming service, Spotify has been the go-to for those who want no-frills digital audio from their favorite artists and certain songs have been much more popular than others.

Since the Spotify era began, certain songs have appealed to everyone no matter what their preferred genre is. Of course, most of these songs fall into the pop category, but hip-hop does find its way toward the top of the list, too. Here are the five most popular songs of the Spotify era, but before we get into the list, here are some songs that almost made the cut: “Closer” by The Chainsmokers and Halsey, “One Dance” by Drake”, and “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee.

“Rockstar” by Post Malone ft. 21 Savage

Following the success of his debut album “Stoney” in late 2016, Post Malone didn’t disappoint with his sophomore release “Beerbongs & Bentleys” two years later. To get the fans who were waiting for a taste of what to expect from the entire album, Malone released the first single “Rockstar” in September 2017. “Rockstar” was an instant hit, becoming the first number-one song for both Malone and track-mate 21 Savage.

At the time of its release, “Rockstar” broke the record for the most-streamed song in a one-week span, and it stayed at the top of the charts for two months. “Rockstar” also became just the second song to be streamed more than 2 billion songs on Spotify, following another hit that’s on the list. “Rockstar” was nominated for several Grammy and American Music Awards, but surprisingly won none of them.

“Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi

There are certain artists who have seemingly come out of nowhere and delivered one of the biggest hit songs of all time. Lewis Capaldi is one of those artists, and in early 2019 his song “Someone You Loved” became an unstoppable force internationally. The soft-spoken Scot belted out this tune as part of his extended play “Breach” and the album “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent”.

After it made waves in Europe, “Someone You Loved” started gaining steam around the rest of the world and reached number one in both Canada and the United States. It was quite the climb for the song, which had debuted at number 85 before spending three weeks at number one.

“Dance Monkey” Tones and I

Tones and I had a very similar path to stardom as Lewis Capaldi, coming out of nowhere as an international singer and dominating the charts in pretty much every country. Tones and I is an Australian singer with a very unique voice, and the song “Dance Monkey” was about her time busking in her home country trying to make ends meet.

The beat was incredibly catchy and the vocals were memorable, giving Tones and I her first-ever top 10 hit in most charting countries. Interestingly enough, despite being the third-most-popular song in the Spotify era, “Dance Monkey” was not a number-one single in the United States. In fact, it only reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Shape Of You” by Ed Sheeran

If you were driving around and listening to the radio in 2017, there was a good chance that “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran was playing no matter what radio station it was. Sheeran’s song was an earworm that became his biggest hit, reaching number one in nearly three dozen countries around the world.

That, of course, included the United States where it even debuted as the number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100. “Shape of You” didn’t let up after its strong start, either. The song would end up breaking the record for most weeks spent in the top 10 of the charts with 33, meaning that there were women in the world that spent almost an entire pregnancy with that song as a top 10 hit.

“Blinding Lights” by The Weekend

There aren’t many songs that could still be played on top 40 radio stations years after their release, but “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd is one of them. After going off the grid for months, The Weeknd popped back up in late 2019, releasing what would be the hit that got us all through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Blinding Lights” broke records left and right, even destroying Sheeran’s record as it remained in the top 10 for an entire year. The song helped propel The Weeknd to superstardom, landing him the halftime show of the Super Bowl with a memorable “Blinding Lights” performance.