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"Beat It" is the 2nd track from "Thriller" to pass 500M streams on Spotify!
It's the 6th pre-2000 album to achieve this. Here are the top 5 albums based on their 2nd biggest track, all 5 are Hard Rock albums btw.
Biggest 2nd track race:
1. Nirvana “Come As You Are” (“Nevermind” – 1991) – 617.2M
2. Metallica “Nothing Else Matters” (“Metallica” – 1991) – 595.2M
3. Guns ‘N Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” (“Appetite for Destruction” – 1987) – 578.6M
4. Bon Jovi “You Give Love A Bad Name” (“Slippery When Wet” – 1986) – 509.9M
5. AC/DC “You Shook Me All Night Long” (“Back in Black” – 1980) – 507.2M
(6. Michael Jackson “Beat It” (“Thriller” – 1982) – 500.6M)
"Thriller" does make the top 5 in the "Hat-trick" department though.
Biggest 3rd track race:
1. Guns ‘N Roses “Paradise City” (“Appetite for Destruction” – 1987) – 539.0M
2. Fleetwood Mac “The Chain” (“Rumours” – 1977) – 478.0M
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Scar Tissue” (“Californication” – 1999) – 382.3M
4. Dr. Dre “Forgot About Dre” (“2001” – 1999) – 379.4M
5. Michael Jackson “Thriller” (“Thriller” – 1982) – 374.9M
And based on the 4th biggest track "Thriller" RULES! So far the only album with four 200M+ tracks, although 3 other albums are closing in on that threshold.
Dr. Dre may seem to be next in line, but he has lost momentum. 8 months ago he was leading Pearl Jam by 7.8M (now just 0.6M) and AC/DC by a whooping 21.3M (now just 4.9M)!!!
"Bad" is just outside the top 5 btw.
Biggest 4th track race:
1. Michael Jackson “P.Y.T.” (“Thriller” – 1982) – 217.5M
2. Dr. Dre “What’s the Difference” (“2001” – 1999) – 196.0M
3. Pearl Jam “Jeremy” (“Ten” – 1992) – 195.4M
4. AC/DC “Hells Bells” (“Back in Black” – 1980) – 191.1M
5. Bob Marley “Waitin’ in Vain” (“Exodus” – 1977) – 172.7M
(6. Michael Jackson “Bad” (“Bad” – 1987) – 160.0M)
Speaking of "Bad". It's #3 in the race of 5 biggies! A race now led by "Rumours". In my last update 8 months ago Fleetwood Mac was trailing Dr. Dre. Seems the TikTok effect has gone beyond hit song "Dreams". Or maybe Dr. Dre is losing momentum here also.
I MUST BE MISSING A VERSION OF "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" though. Because I actually had that one at 108.7M the last time around..... (now it's behind "Only God Can Judge Me" at 114.3M)
Biggest 5th track race:
1. Fleetwood Mac “Never Going Back Again” (“Rumours” – 1977) – 128.9M
2. Dr. Dre “Xxplosive” (“2001” – 1999) – 126.2M
3. Michael Jackson “Dirty Diana” (“Bad” – 1987) – 118.9M
4. Michael Jackson “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” (“Thriller” – 1982) – 112.9M
5. 2Pac “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” (“All Eyez On Me” – 1996) – 107.8M - MISSING???
"Thriller" is also on top in the biggest 6 race, one of just two albums with SIX 100M+ songs, the other is Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", an album not in the 4 lists above. That's probably because DSOTM is not an album full of hits, but rather a hit album.
Biggest 6th track race:
1. Michael Jackson “Human Nature” (“Thriller” – 1982) – 104.1M
2. Pink Floyd “Brain Damage” (“Dark Side of the Moon” – 1973) – 101.6M
3. Nirvana “Something in the Way” (“Nevermind” – 1991) – 93.5M
4. Michael Jackson “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” (“Bad” – 1987) – 90.5M
5. 2Pac “How Do You Want It” (“All Eyez On Me” – 1996) – 89.7M
Lastly a follow up on my comments about Dr. Dre. Here are the biggest 5 tracks on "2001" and how they rank now and (8 months ago)
1 Still D.R.E. #29 (#28)
2 The Next Episode #8 (#5)
3 Forgot About Dre #4 (#3)
4 What's the Difference #2 (#2) - likely #4 before long!
5 Xxplosive #2 (#1)
Three years ago "Still D.R.E." was #17. "The Next Episode" was #1. "Forgot about Dre" was #2. So this 1999 album was streaming much better in the early ages of Spotify.
Maybe you're wondering why Queen are missing from these lists, after all they are arguably the true streaming masters among 20th century artists. But the reason is that their top SEVEN tracks on Spotify are from seven different albums! Amazing actually.
Their #8 track "We are the Champions" is the 2nd biggest track on "News of the World" with 480.7M, and rank #9 in the "Biggest 2nd track race".
And what about other 20th century artists with huge Spotify tracks, like Oasis, Mariah Carey, Journey, Toto, A-ha, the Eagles, Earth Wind & Fire and the Police? Well, while hardly one-hit-wonders, in this regard they are actually one-GiantOnSpotify-wonders.
(To be fair, Oasis "Don't Look Back in Anger" rank #11 with 414M in the "Biggest 2nd track race")
Average of 10 million?
Immaculate Collection is a compilation, it doesn't count.
None of her albums except ROL sold 10 million in 90s.
How much did We Are The World sell? It was hugely successful and The New York Times reported it as the best-selling single of the 80s.
Paul McCartney has 25 studio albums.
So it's no wonder that Paul McCartney has so many number one singles.
Moreover, Paul does not have an official nickname of king.
"Billie Jean" recently topped 1 Billion plays on Spotify!!!
993,017,697 + 3,798,470 + 2,500,913 + 1,274,583 + 47,353 = 1,000,639,016
A huge achievement from this 39 year old Pop classic!
A few days ago, Billie Jean was predicted to be played 1 billion on spotify.
Billie Jean is a very important song in the history of popular music.
I listen to Billie Jean every day.
Spotify streams are extrapolated to account for other streaming platforms' streams. The Beatles are ahead by more than 3B+ to MJ in Spotify streams.
I thought it was youtube,and spotify combined becouse his views in yt are much bigger than them,do they count yt views?
They do not. They only use Spotify based on the formula.
Yes, they also count youtube views as streams although with a different ratio