True. 2 from the 70s. Thought I wrote that...

I guess we can agree to disagree Martin. I'm not a fan of Jump, but I love early Roth era stuff like Running With the Devil, Aint Talking Bout Love, Little Dreamer and the Cradle Will Rock.

On Zep we totally disagree! Ok, Stairway 's not my #1 either (probably Black Dog or Since I've Been Loving You). But I don't mind the public associating them with Stairway, because it is brillant (unlike that damned whistling tune by the Scorpions)!
Gallows Pole wouldn't even make my top 50 Led Zep. Too folk-sy. And Fool in the Rain is just plain awful, sorry. Too eh, Billy-Joel-playing-calypso-ish.... I'll take What is and What Should Never Be, Dazed and Confused, Rock and Roll, No Quarter, Whole Lotta Love or Ten Years Gone any day. Levee Breaks is cool though.

Totally agree with you on Aerosmith. Sweet Emotion, Dream On and Back in the Saddle are killer songs. And IDWTMAT is soooo overrated.

This happens with lots of rockbands, doesn't it? Oasis/Wonderwall, Pink Floyd/ABITW, Metallica/NEM. Hits are usually not what the band's fans like, though the level of sucking of the monster hit may vary, of course.

My post also have annoying empty lines in the top 20 list.
However, I don't have an 'edit' option...

That always does the trick, doesn't it?
Still, he died sep 28th 2022. His big boost started sometime in 2021:

pre-2000 lists
jan 2nd 2020 #54 COOLIO - Paradise 403.2M
jan 2nd 2021 #49 COOLIO - Paradise 553.9M (+150.7M #32 in 2020)
jan 1st 2022 #30 COOLIO - Paradise 818.5M (+264.6M #7 in 2021)
jan 1st 2023 #17 COOLIO - Paradise 1172.2M (+353.6M #2 in 2022)

Yeah I don't know what's wrong with the spacing, in all of my posts I end up with double spacing, instead of single spacing, when I try to put a space between two paragraphs.

Yes I also noticed that the edit function has disappeared from the bottom right hand corner of our comments. I try to edit through WordPress, but even in there it just double spaces!

Mr Brightside essentially made their career in the US, before that (early 2005) their album had sold about 700k thanks to Somebody Told Me, and a few months after it was at 2.5m. Considering they had very limited success outside of the anglosphere, it's likely that it was always their most popular song.

I fixed the spacing but in doing so, it seems to have reverted it to lower case, when it was upper case!

Yes, I think years ago I remember you saying you disliked Your Time Is Gonna Come also, from the 1st album. You seem to like the more straightforward rock and blues of Zep. While I like almost all of their stuff (I've always disliked Hats Off To Harper on III), I really love their forays into slightly different areas, like the funk of Trampled Underfoot, the acoustic/folkiness of stuff like Hey Hey What Can I Do and the samba/South American feel of Fool In The Rain.

Interesting! Maybe millennials have a lot of nostalgia for the song? I remember that song being massive when I was a kid. I think it was the first rap song to go multi-platinum in America as well.

Not much straight forward over No Quarter, but for the most part you are absolutely correct 😄

While still not a fave of mine Your Time is Gonna Come is a decent tune, but I'm not a fan of the chorus

With regards to DC, are your faves any of the big 3? HTH is the only one I really like, Im just not that big a fan of Johnsons voice or lyrics, I think Bons were far, far wittier and cleverer and his voice and delivery much better.

Have you ever listened to Alex Harvey? You can totally see where Bon got his style and delivery from.

Highway to Hell is my all time favorite song. By any artist. I love both Bon & Brian, but yes, Bon was truly brillant. Bad Boy Boogie, Jailbreak, Live Wire, Let There Be Rock, Touch Too Much, Hells Bells, For Those About To Rock, Who Made Who and Sink the Pink are some of my faves. I like just about everything they made. War Macine, Ride On, Heatseeker, Sin City, so many... Witch's Spell from their latest is great too.
I love BIB and Thunderstruck too, but not as much as HTH. I might even have to admit Thunderstruck is a bit overrated. Still great though, LOL!

I haven't really heard much Alex Harvey, but I've heard of him

Like Stan, Eminem's Mockingbird could also have topped 200M in 2022. It's at 850M now. Somehow I mistook it for a 10s song, but it's from Encore (2004), my bad.

You should have a listen to the track Framed by Alex, it's like AC/DC before AC/DC. Very The Jack and Big Balls in style and sound.

Just listened to some Alex Harvey songs, Framed a few times. Also back to back with The Jack. I agree they are similar. Musically both come from the old Blues school. Like Muddy Waters blues. Framed is very Hoochie Coochie Man-ish.
And yes the vocal deliveries are also similar in style.
Bon's execution is exceptionel though, as is that of his band. Production is important too of course. The sound is instantly recognisable as AC/DC. Whereas Alex Harvey do come off as a good blues based Rock band. But not quite as crispy and destinctive.

That's really the magic of AC/DC. People call their music simple, true, but no one really plays simple music as well as AC/DC. Many have tried.

Yeah, I wasn't pitting them against each other, just trying to show you the
link and inspiration, that Bon obviously drew from Alex music and phrasing.

I mean it's no secret his admiration for Alex. From what I've read here and there, he used tell everyone how much he loved Alex and his music, so I think it's obvious that you hear his influence (Alex) in early Scott era DC.

So with 2022 in the history books who's off to a good start in 2023 and who's not?

Spotify plays since jan. 1st 2023 (* since jan. 2nd.)
Rank as of 1/1/2023

1 QUEEN – Bohemian Rhapsody – 12.9M
2 QUEEN – Don’t Stop Me Now – 12.1M
3 OASIS – Wonderwall – 10.2M
4 MARIAH CAREY – All I Want for Christmas – 3.6M
5 NIRVANA – Smells Like Teen Spirit – 12.9M
6 JOURNEY – Don’t Stop Believin’ – 10.6M
7 QUEEN – Another One Bites the Dust – 9.6M
8 AHA – Take On Me – 12.2M
9 GUNS N ROSES – Sweet Child O Mine – 11.5M
10 THE POLICE – Every Breath You Take – 13.2M
11 THE EAGLES – Hotel California – 10.7M
12 TOTO – Africa – 8.9M
13 EARTH, WIND & FIRE – September – 9.2M
14 MICHAEL JACKSON – Billie Jean – 10.8M
15 QUEEN/BOWIE – Under Pressure – 8.2M
16 AC/DC – Back In Black – 8.4M
17 COOLIO – Gangsta’s Paradise – 14.8M
18 FLEETWOOD MAC – Dreams – 9.9M
19 AC/DC – Highway To Hell – 8.6M
20 WHAM – Last Christmas – 5.6M
21 BON JOVI – Livin’ On A Prayer – 11.1M
22 GOO GOO DOLLS – Iris – 11.7M
23 AC/DC – Thunderstruck – 8.9M
24 DR. DRE – Still DRE – 9.4M
25 RADIOHEAD – Creep – 11.1M
26 BACKSTREET BOYS – I Want It That Way – 7.9M
27 RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS – Under the Bridge – 6.9M
28 LYNYRD SKYNYRD – Sweet Home Alabama – 6.7M
29 RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS – Californication – 7.4M
30 METALLICA – Enter Sandman – 13.0M
31 QUEEN – We Will Rock You – 6.9M
32 EURYTHMICS – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) – ???M
33 NIRVANA – Come As You Are – 9.4M
34 TEARS FOR FEARS – Everybody Wants to Rule the World – 13.1M (*)
35 SURVIVOR – Eye of the Tiger – 7.6M
36 R.E.M. – Losing My Religion – 8.8M
37 GLORIA GAYNOR – I Will Survive – 7.9M (*)
38 CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL – Have You Ever Seen the Rain – 10.5M
39 THE BEATLES – Here Comes the Sun – 7.3M
40 METALLICA – Nothing Else Matters – 10.6M
41 FOO FIGHTERS – Everlong – 12.5M (*)
-
-
53 KATE BUSH – Running Up That Hill – 14.1M (*)

10M in two weeks times 26 = 260M in 52 weeks.
However some songs are popular at specific times of the year. Xmas songs the obvious example.
But it looks like Running Up That Hill, Gangsta's Paradise, Everybody Wants to Rule, Every Breath You Take, Smells Like Teen Spirit and Bohemian Rhapsody are still going strong. And look out for Metallica. Seems like the new single and upcoming album/tour are having an effect.

Everlong, Iris. Living on a Prayer and Creep also look strong.

The three AC/DC tracks aren't doing that well, though.
Interestingly Thunderstruck has started 2023 better that both HTH and BIB.

Sweet Dreams numbers are not updated. Due missing info the numbers don't add up.

Sweet Dreams - 7.5M

Here is the updated list of top pre-2000 songs on Spotify.

(#) indicates ranking as of Jan 1st 2023.
As of Jan 2nd 2024:
1 (1) QUEEN – Bohemian Rhapsody – 2476M
2 (2) QUEEN – Don’t Stop Me Now – 1956M
3 (4) MARIAH CAREY – All I Want for Christmas – 1918M
4 (8) AHA – Take On Me – 1879M
5 (5) NIRVANA – Smells Like Teen Spirit – 1873M
6 (3) OASIS – Wonderwall – 1855M
7 (10) THE POLICE – Every Breath You Take – 1812M
8 (6) JOURNEY – Don’t Stop Believin’ – 1766M
9 (7) QUEEN – Another One Bites the Dust – 1732M
10 (9) GUNS N ROSES – Sweet Child O Mine – 1722M
11 (11) THE EAGLES – Hotel California – 1656M
12 (12) TOTO – Africa – 1622M
13 (14) MICHAEL JACKSON – Billie Jean – 1600M
14 (13) EARTH, WIND & FIRE – September – 1564M
15 (17) COOLIO – Gangsta’s Paradise – 1556M
16 (25) RADIOHEAD – Creep – 1531M
17 (15) QUEEN/BOWIE – Under Pressure – 1513M
18 (18) FLEETWOOD MAC – Dreams – 1508M
19 (20) WHAM – Last Christmas – 1494M
20 (22) GOO GOO DOLLS – Iris – 1485M
21 (34) TEARS FOR FEARS – Everybody Wants to Rule the World – 1459M
22 (16) AC/DC – Back In Black – 1440M
23 (21) BON JOVI – Livin’ On A Prayer – 1439M
24 (19) AC/DC – Highway To Hell – 1436M
25 (23) AC/DC – Thunderstruck – 1372M
26 (24) DR. DRE – Still DRE – 1342M
27 (38) CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL – Have You Ever Seen the Rain – 1333M
28 (30) METALLICA – Enter Sandman – 1304M
29 (26) BACKSTREET BOYS – I Want It That Way – 1300M
30 (27) RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS – Under the Bridge – 1285M
31 (33) NIRVANA – Come As You Are – 1282M
32 (29) RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS – Californication – 1279M
33 (32) EURYTHMICS – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) – 1263M
34 (36) R.E.M. – Losing My Religion – 1255M
35 (41) FOO FIGHTERS – Everlong – 1253M
36 (49) BEE GEES – Stayin’ Alive – 1249M
37 (28) LYNYRD SKYNYRD – Sweet Home Alabama – 1239M
38 (31) QUEEN – We Will Rock You – 1226M
39 (42) MARVIN GAYE – Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – 1208M
40 (37) GLORIA GAYNOR – I Will Survive – 1200M (*)
41 (54) BRENDA LEE – Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – 1199M
42 (35) SURVIVOR – Eye of the Tiger – 1196M
43 (47) CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL – Fortunate Son – 1191M
44 (39) THE BEATLES – Here Comes the Sun – 1180M
45 (43) THE CRANBERRIES – Zombie – 1164M
46 (52) ABBA – Dancing Queen – 862M
47 (44) BRYAN ADAMS – Summer of ’69 – 1135M
48 (45) DIRE STRAITS – Sultans of Swing – 1128M
49 (40) METALLICA – Nothing Else Matters – 1128M
50 (53) KATE BUSH – Running Up That Hill – 1128M
51 (46) WHITNEY HOUSTON – I Wanna Dance With Somebody – 1105M
52 (50) GUNS N ROSES – Welcome To the Jungle – 1098M
53 (48) QUEEN – I Want to Break Free – 1097M
54 (57) ROLLING STONES – Paint It Black – 1064M
56 (61) NOTORIOUS B.I.G. – Hypnotize – 1041M
57 (66) FLEETWOOD MAC – The Chain – 1035M
58 (60) MICHAEL JACKSON – Beat It – 1029M
59 (62) AC/DC – You Shook Me All Night Long – 1027M
60 (51) SMASH MOUTH – All Star – 1026M
61 (59) ELTON JOHN – Rocket Man – 1009M
62 (–) CYNDI LAUPER – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – 1006M
63 (58) SPICE GIRLS – Wannabe – 1005M
64 (56) GUNS N ROSES – Paradise City – 1005M
_______________________________________________
– (–) BON JOVI – You Give Love a Bad Name – 995M
– (–) BLINK-182 – All the Small Things – 995M
-- (55) BOB MARLEY – Is This Love – 987M
-- (63) U2 – With Or Without You – 983M
-- (64) THE VERVE – Bitterswet Symphony – 981M
– (–) GREEN DAY – Basket Case – 978M
– (–) BLACK SABBATH - Paranoid - 977M
– (–) BEN E KING - Stand By Me - 972M
-- (67) AEROSMITH – I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing – 961M
– (–) BOBBY HELMS - Jingle Bell Rock - 959M
-- (65) THE CLASH – Should I Stay or Should I Go – 958M
– (–) TLC - No Scrubs - 950M
– (–) GEORGE MICHAEL - Careless Whisper - 946M
-- (68) LED ZEPPELIN – Stairway to Heaven – 944M

64 songs are now above the 1B milestone!

Top 20 of 2023:

1 Tears for Fears – Rule the World – 476M
2 Radiohead – Creep – 450M

3 Aha – Take On Me – 434M

4 Police – Breath – 427M
5 Coolio – Gangsta’s Paradise – 384M
6 CCR - Have You Ever Seen the Rain - 380M

7 Mariah – Xmas – 378M

8 Goo Goo Dolls – Iris – 367M
9 Bee Gees - Stayiin' Alive - 359M
10 Queen – Don’t Stop 356M
11 Nirvana – Smells Like – 356M
12 Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around the Xmas Tree - 352M
13 Wham – Xmas – 352M
14 Fleetwood Mac – Dreams – 351M
15 Queen – Bo Rhap – 344M
16 GnR – Sweet Child – 337M
17 Foo Fighters - Everlong - 333M
18 Bon Jovi - Living On a Prayer - 315M
19 Michael Jackson – Billie Jean 310M
20 Journey – Don’t Stop – 304M

(21 Oasis – Wonderwall – 302M)
(22 Elton John - I'm Still Standing - 296M)

Huge numbers from Tears for Fears (34-21), Radiohead (25-16), A-ha (8-4) and the Police (10-7) gives be jumps on the list!
Both CCR songs also move up (38-27 & 47-43).

While Bo Rhap and Don't Stop Me Now are still the top 2 overall, they were "just" number 15 and 10 in 2023.
Oasis wasn't in the top 20 in 2023 and drops 6-3 overall.

AC/DC had no songs in the top 20 in 2023 and their 3 big ones all drop overall (16-22, 19-24 & 23-25). The good news is You Shook Me All Night Long tops the 1B mark too and moves up 62-59. Only Queen have more songs above the 1B mark with 6.

Cyndi Lauper almost make the list last year - this year she's in at #62.

Gloaria Gaynor's I Will Survive is missing the biggest version in the database. So I used the figure from last year (462M) for a new total of 1200M - could actually be higher.

Thanks a lot for doing this. Interesting that Kate Bush isn't even in the 2023 top 20, it really only lasted about 6 months after all. Actually I noticed the Tears For Fears virality started at literally the same time (early june 2022) but this one is still going strong.

Also it looks like Take On Me could become #2 in the near future, and Nirvana's Teen Spirit #1 of the 90s in the very near future.

Oh I think you missed these ones:

Aerosmith - Dream On 1.041b
Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day 1.016b

Hi Thomas!

I checked the case of I Will Survive, the song at 462m seems to be gone, even after a reset. I checked the app too, and no trace of it. I went to look into Gloria Gaynor's history, and the track "disappeared" fro December 7 to December 8 on Spotify. Her career totals:
12/07 - 1,386,000,881
12/08 - 912,888,547

A drop of 473.1m, while her catalog was increasing 800k/day. Suggests the 'missing' version had 473.9m streams when removed...

...but there's more to it. Gloria's statistics reveal that she had on December 7, 3 songs over 100m, 10 over 10 million, and 29 over a million, while her total number of tracks went from 394 to 393. It means that 473.9m track hasn't disappeared, instead, they changed its stream count to one of the top 3 currently displaying.

I checked deeper into it, and the reverse happened on June 30, 2022, when she went from 650,100,851 career streams to 994,987,376 streams. At that date too, her number of tracks over 10m and 1m remained unchanged, while she moved from 2 to 3 tracks with 100m+ streams.

In concrete terms, it means I Will Survive is one of these songs that is weirdly given 2 playcounts by Spotify, one that is now over 100m (and was below 100m by June 2022), and another much healthier playcount which is running a bit more than 473.8m "ahead" of the 100m one. Her daily averages also went from 800k to 500k when the playcount was changed, meaning the other one should be 482m higher than its current replacement.

Spotify has more "glitched" playcounts like this one, with the most popular one being Stevie's Superstition. Recently, a dozen of Christmas songs, some very popular (from Bing Crosby, Sinatra and Dean) and some way less popular (like Brook Benton), were all granted the same playcount of 1.2b something, then they fixed it.

Thus, the $1 million question is, which playcount by I Will Survive is valid? This would be either 1220m or 738m. If I had to be I would be inclined to believe that the latter is correct, but it's impossible to be sure of it.

I was also a bit surprised Running Up That Hill didn't do better in 2023. 269M is solid, but a huge drop from the 750M+ in 2022.

Take On Me gained 80M on Don't Stop Me in 2023 and still trails it by 76M, so if it keeps going it could be a tight race for #2 at the end of 2024!