While the weekend might be over, The Weeknd is still going strong. The singer’s 2019 hit “Blinding Lights” has officially become the most streamed song on the music streaming platform Spotify as of December 31, 2022.
The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” from his 2020 album After Hours was crowned the most streamed song ever on Spotify on December 31, 2022, with a whopping 3,334,180,640 streams as of January 3. The news comes from an announcement by the singer himself: “happy new years to blinding lights,” The Weeknd wrote on Instagram on New Year’s Eve. “the most streamed song of all time tonight.”
Spotify confirmed to Gizmodo on January 4 that “Blinding Lights” was officially the most streamed song on the service, and issued an official announcement on social media.
“Blinding Lights” taking the top spot on Spotify means that it has swiped the title from Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.” The latter track was released in January 2017 and was crowned most streamed song on Spotify shortly after in September 2017, according to Billboard. “Shape of You” also became the first song to reach three billion streams on the platform in 2021—the song currently has 3,332,970,120 streams on Spotify.
Meanwhile, “Blinding Lights” made waves upon its first release. Spotify reported in 2020 that the song was the most streamed song of the year, racking up 1.6 billion streams. Outside of Spotify, “Blinding Lights” spent 90 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, which makes it the longest charting song by a solo artist on the Hot 100.
The top 5 most streamed songs on Spotify as of writing:
- “Blinding Lights” - The Weeknd
- “Shape of You” - Ed Sheeran
- “Dance Monkey” - Tones and I
- “Someone You Loved” - Lewis Capaldi
- “Rockstar” - Post Malone ft. 21 Savage
Updated 1/4/2023 12:35 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include Spotify’s confirmation and announcement that The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” is currently the most streamed song on the platform.