“Blinding” stats: The Weeknd’s song is first to reach 4 billion streams on Spotify

“blinding”-stats:-the-weeknd’s-song-is-first-to-reach-4-billion-streams-on-spotify
“blinding”-stats:-the-weeknd’s-song-is-first-to-reach-4-billion-streams-on-spotify
XO/Republic

The Weeknd‘s hit “Blinding Lights” has set many records, including being the first song to spend an entire year in the top 10, but now, it has hit an especially impressive milestone.

The track, from the artist’s 2020 album After Hours, has become the first song in Spotify history to hit 4 billion streams. He’s also the #1 artist on the streaming service, with 113 million monthly listeners. Last year, he became the first artist on Spotify to hit 100 million monthly listeners.

In a statement, the singer said, “I’ll never stop being humbled by anything I create making its way to millions of people let alone billions! I’m so thankful this song makes people feel a way that they keep going back to listen.”

Last year, the artist, born Abel Tesfaye, said, “It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually.”

However, his next project will likely be another Weeknd album. In a recent social media post, he put up the cover art for his last two releases, After Hours and Dawn FM, followed by a photo of a question mark. The caption reads “3.”

(A previous version of this story published on 1/12/24 erroneously stated that The Weeknd had 113 monthly listeners on Spotify. The correct statement is “113 million monthly listeners.” The text above has been updated accordingly.)

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