While crossing a billion streams on Spotify remains a milestone, Blinding Lights by The Weeknd has reached an entirely new realm, becoming the first song to surpass 5 billion plays. As of today's update, its tally stands at 5,000,010,581 streams.

The Max Martin–powered track may sound like it has smash written all over it, but back in late 2019, its trajectory was far from obvious. What followed was one of the most remarkable ascents in pop history.

Christmas Dampens the Spark

When The Weeknd announced his return in late 2019 with the album After Hours, expectations were immense. His previous projects, 2015's Beauty Behind the Madness and 2016's Starboy, had both been global blockbusters. The latter even set a Spotify record at the time, pulling 220,152,499 streams in its debut week and surpassing Justin Bieber’s Purpose (206,860,356).

The comeback began with Heartless, produced by Metro Boomin, which was released on November 27, 2019. It reached #1 in the US, only to plummet to #17 the following week, marking the steepest fall from the top in Billboard history. On Spotify, it peaked at #4 worldwide before dropping out of the Top 40 after just four weeks.

Two days later came Blinding Lights. It entered the global chart at #7, slipping to #12 in its second week, while Heartless trailed at #18. By The Weeknd's standards, these were modest results. The timing was brutal: holiday staples clogged charts, pushing Blinding Lights down to #15 during Christmas week.

The year 2019 was loaded with heavyweights — Ariana Grande's 7 Rings, Lil Nas X's Old Town Road, Billie Eilish's Bad Guy, Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello's Señorita, Travis Scott's Highest in the Room, Lewis Capaldi's Someone You Loved, Tones & I's Dance Monkey, and Post Malone's Circles. Compared to these blockbusters, The Weeknd's new singles barely registered as seasonal highlights. It wasn't easy to imagine they would break records...

The Hook Too Catchy To Resist

Once Christmas cleared, the irresistible pull of Blinding Lights began to show. From December 25 onward, its Spotify streams grew for nine consecutive weeks, climbing from 22 million to 44 million. On January 30, 2020, it broke into the global Top 5 at #3; by February 27, it reached #1.

This was just the beginning. The track displayed remarkable staying power, holding the top spot for 13 weeks and remaining in the Top 10 until Christmas songs returned at year's end. By January 2021, it was back up to #3, blocked from retaking #1 only by Olivia Rodrigo's sudden rise. Its momentum peaked again when The Weeknd delivered a critically acclaimed Super Bowl halftime show in February 2021.

Blinding Lights' final week in the Top 10 came on April 1, 2021, concluding a historic run. Its triumph came without help from the Grammys, which notoriously snubbed both the single and its parent album, sparking widespread criticism, both from the fans, the artist himself, and the media.

Commercially, the numbers spoke loudest. The track surpassed 1 billion streams on June 1, 2020, and set a record as the fastest to reach 2 billion streams by February 24, 2021.

Blinding Lights Kept Turned On

By the end of 2020, Blinding Lights was IFPI's #1 global single, registering 2.72 billion stream equivalents. Astonishingly, it ranked #7 again in 2021, and still #14 in 2022.

On Spotify, it remained in the Global Top 50 until May 2022, displaced only when Bad Bunny's record-breaking Un Verano Sin Ti unleashed its 22 tracks. A month later, on June 15, 2022, Blinding Lights crossed 3 billion streams.

On January 1, 2023, it dethroned Ed Sheeran's Shape of You as Spotify's most-streamed track ever with 3.332 billion plays. A year later, on January 12, 2024, it became the first to cross 4 billion. Even in 2024, five years after release, it held steady inside the Top 200, now 300 consecutive weeks and 2,098 days strong.

Today, it adds another unmatched accolade: Blinding Lights is the first track ever to reach 5 billion streams.

A Battle at the Summit

On its main version alone, Blinding Lights rules the all-time chart. When combined with alternate versions, its total rises to 5.11 billion. Its closest challenger, Shape of You, sits at 5.07 billion, currently growing about 10% faster.

That narrow margin exists because Shape of You enjoyed a flood of remixes — acoustic, Latin, and more — that increased its overall count.

This pattern isn't unique, as both artists know. Ed Sheeran's Perfect has 3.59 billion plays in its original form, but expands to 4.86 billion once duets with Beyoncé and Andrea Bocelli, plus remixes, are included. Similarly, The Weeknd's Save Your Tears jumps from 2.45 billion to 4.39 billion with Ariana Grande's remix. Die for You repeats the formula, adding 1.18 billion streams with Grande to its 2.92 billion solo streams.

With Starboy also above 4 billion, The Weeknd and Ed Sheeran now account for six of Spotify's seven most-streamed songs. It is the most explicit demonstration of their unrivaled global reach.