Streaming World: Back To 2012

2012 TOP 100 HITS – #5

Imagine Dragons – Demons – 562 610 000

A real gap between songs #6 and #5 as there is a jump of 120 million streams straight up to 562 million! This #5 song is no other than Demons, one more smash from groundbreaking debut album Night Visions of the Imagine Dragons. One of the biggest bands of the decade, the American stars

Demons is the typical example of a song with highly misleading chart positions. It was a #6 hit in the US, #13 in the UK. It also missed the top 10 in Australia, France and Germany. Why is it misleading? Simply because the song came as the third single after the massively successful songs It’s Time and Radioactive. It means that plenty of people interested in their music already picked the album or went after it rather than buying only the new song. In fact, the third successful single of an era is often key in convincing the album as a whole is worth it. Demons played precisely that role for Night Visions. The single was also promoted on distinct periods which concluded on a very weird run. In the US, it first peaked at #120 when making the Bubbling Under in September 2012. It returned on charts in December 2012, this time entering the Hot 100 with a #89 peak. It appeared anew in May 2013 for a 15-weeks run that led it to a new peak of #59. Incredibly, in September 2013 the song re-entered one more time, this time going all the way up to #6. Songs with such a brilliant hold do not need high peaks to accumulate large sales and streams.