The way people determine which songs are most popular has changed since I was a kid. In the 1950s and 1960s, you just counted the number of records sold. Mostly those were the 45 rpm vinyl discs with a single song on each side. Everyone knew which was the 'A' side and which the 'B' - except Elvis and the Beatles who put hits on both sides whether they wanted to or not.
We would tune in to our favorite radio station each weekend to see which were the top 40 songs - and what ranking each had locally. Ever heard of Casey Kasem? His radio show was the nationwide authority for many years.
Now, the industry uses the number of downloads a song receives on Spotify or other music app. Here are some of the results of that method of counting.
The musical group Queen, with mostly 1970s releases, have had songs streamed over 17 billion times on Spotify. This is the most of anyone from that era. In the 1980s, mega-star Michael Jackson had only one song with over one billion plays - "Billie Jean". The only Christmas song to reach the one billion times streamed list is Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You." That was in the 1990s. After 2000, we get "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers with 1.6 billion streams.
Since 2011, when Spotify was launched and smart phones became ubiquitous, billions of streams are not uncommon. Test yourself with the current top five artists based on number of streams. Good Luck!
- ED SHEERAN
- POST MALONE
- THE WEEKND
- XXXTENTACION
- ARIANA GRANDE
No, I don't know what happened to Frank Sinatra.
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