Songs Are Reaching 1 Billion Spotify Streams Faster Than Ever

Growing global streaming consumption, TikTok, and pop culture are accelerating the rate at which songs reach 1 billion Spotify streams.

Songs Are Reaching 1 Billion Spotify Streams Faster Than Ever

by Jubran Haddad via Chartmetric Blog

When Drake released “One Dance” in 2016, it was an undeniable contender for song of the summer. With Afrobeat influences from Wizkid and a funky groove from Kyla, the track marked a remarkable departure from the Canadian rapper’s typical sound. What Drake and his team probably couldn’t have predicted, however, was that “One Dance” would make history as the first song on Spotify to hit one billion streams, achieving this milestone in just 193 day.

But that was back in the early days of streaming, a time when hitting such a milestone was a rarity. With 875 tracks and counting, Spotify’s Billion’s Club bridges generations, featuring classic hits from the ‘70s and ‘80s alongside modern chart-toppers that achieved the milestone in just months. In May 2023, Miley Cyrus’s heartbreak anthem, “Flowers,” became the fastest song on Spotify to hit 1 billion streams, doing so in 112 days. By October of that year, Jung Kook and Latto’s “Seven” bested it in 108 days. A year later, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga shattered the record again, reaching the milestone in just 96 days with their soft-rock and pop ballad, “Die With A Smile.”

In 2024, 13 of the 296 tracks to cross that milestone were released the same year. By comparison, just three songs released in 2023 reached the billion-stream mark within the same year. Was 2024 the year of the hitmakers or part of a bigger trend reshaping music? Are songs reaching 1 billion Spotify streams faster than ever?

The Billion-Stream Milestone Over Time 

To figure out if songs are really hitting 1 billion streams faster, the question can be split: How long does it take for a track to reach the milestone? And how many tracks are crossing that threshold each year? The analysis also calls for focusing on data post-2015, the year streaming officially overtook CD sales, transforming how we consume music and measure success in the digital age.

By grouping Spotify tracks that have surpassed 1 billion streams by release year and analyzing how long they took to reach the milestone, it’s clear that the timeline has steadily shortened over time. Between 2015 and 2018, most songs took years to get there, with only a few outliers achieving rapid success, such as Drake’s “One Dance” in 2016 and Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” in 2017. As streaming became the dominant music model and after the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer tracks took thousands of days to hit 1 billion streams. Instead, more songs reached the milestone in predictable timeframes, driven by playlists, social media, and algorithm-based discovery.

By 2022 and 2023, the shift became even more dramatic, as most billion-stream tracks reached the mark in under 1,000 days (2.74 years). In 2024, the gap nearly disappears. The few songs from this year that have already surpassed one billion streams did so in just a few months, marking an unprecedented acceleration from previous years. There’s almost no variation between the fastest and slowest billion-stream songs, signaling that major hits are now reaching this level in a highly compressed timeframe.

To put this in perspective, “One Dance,” which took 193 days (about 6.4 months) to reach the milestone, Lil Nas X’s 2021 hit “INDUSTRY BABY” featuring Jack Harlow, reached one billion streams in a similar timeframe but now only the 20th fastest to do so. The bar for streaming success has undeniably been raised.

Consistently, the average number of days has also decreased. Songs released in 2015 took an average of 2,621 days (7.2 years) to hit one billion streams, while tracks from 2020 needed just 1,250 days (3.4 years). By 2024, that figure had dropped dramatically to 180 days (0.5 years). While the number of qualifying songs from each year varies and thus affects the average, the trend is clear: new releases are reaching one billion streams faster than before.

When analyzing how many tracks hit one billion streams each year and how many of those were released in the same year, the numbers reveal a clear upward trend. The annual count of songs surpassing this milestone has grown steadily: 68 tracks in 2020, 137 in 2022, and 296 in 2024. Moreover, between 2016 and 2023, only a handful of tracks released in those years managed to hit one billion streams within their release year, typically fewer than five per year. In 2024, that number increased to 13.

Even during the pandemic, when people were stuck indoors bingeing music, making TikToks, and recreating viral dances, not a single song from 2020 reached the billion-stream milestone that same year. However, 2020 marked a turning point for older catalog songs, many of which went viral and regained popularity—potentially sparking the exponential growth that began around the pandemic.

What’s Driving the Trend?

The overall increase in tracks hitting one billion can be attributed to three main reasons. First, these streams illustrate global consumption, largely driven by Spotify’s rapid growth in monthly active users over the past decade. Editorial playlists like “Today’s Top Hits” and “New Music Friday,” along with algorithm-driven features, remain influential in driving streams. However, questions remain about the authenticity of this hype. Do these streams reflect genuine listener interest, or are they inflated by passive listening and background plays? Additionally, there’s ongoing debate about payola, bot farms, and whether algorithms truly operate fairly.

Second, short-form video platforms like TikTok continue to shape the music industry, proving their dominance in music promotion. Out of the 14 tracks that surpassed one billion streams in 2024, 12 had a viral moment on TikTok. Take “MILLION DOLLAR BABY” by Tommy Richman as an example; it generated over 10 million TikTok posts in less than a year. Another example is “APT.” The track has 9 million TikTok posts and achieved one billion streams in just 100 days, making it the fastest song to reach this milestone. 

Third, the music scene has experienced a dynamic resurgence since hitting a low point in 2014, driven by the return of major artists and the rise of fresh talent, many with their own billion-stream hits. In 2024 specifically, Ariana Grande made a notable comeback with her highly anticipated album eternal sunshine, featuring the billion-stream track “we can’t be friends (wait for your love).” Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga also joined forces for “Die With A Smile, a song that captivated global audiences, cemented their superstar status, and shattered streaming records.

At the same time, rising stars like Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Benson Boone, and Shaboozey have made their mark on the mainstream, each landing billion-stream hits and earning Best New Artist nominations at the 67th Grammys. When was the last time four Best New Artist nominees boasted billion-stream hits? 

What Happens After One Billion? 

Among the 511 tracks released after 2015, the average number of streams after crossing the one-billion mark is 1.5 billion, half a billion more than the threshold itself. This shows that hitting a billion streams isn’t the finish line but a catalyst for continued momentum. However, when looking at the current stream counts in relation to the time each song took to reach this milestone (e.g., one year later or two years later), the average number of streams remains relatively consistent across songs.

Listeners are the driving force behind these numbers, propelled by trends, viral moments, or even casual curiosity. With relentless exposure, some songs find their way into our daily routines, racking up streams almost effortlessly, whether from genuine connection or sheer ubiquity. The real question is how quickly a song reaches a billion streams and whether it possesses any lasting appeal. Will we be excited to hear them years from now, or are we already over them before the next big thing even drops?