Music that has staying power is a much more attractive investment when purchasing royalty shares. Here are the top listened-to songs on Spotify of all time.

If you’re an artist looking for inspiration, or a music fan scoping out a good buy, this list of the most streamed songs on Spotify should give you an idea of what works long-term.

At Fractis, we’re in the business of helping music fans feel closer to artists, and assisting musicians in funding their careers and connecting with their audience. How do we do that? By enabling artists to sell a fraction of their monthly music streaming royalties in exchange for instant revenue.

What has this got to do with the most streamed songs, you may ask.

We’re certainly not saying that everyone needs to try and exclusively recreate Ed Sheeran or Imagine Dragons’ work. That would make the world of music pretty damn boring. But, it can be helpful to get an idea of what people consistently listen to on a long-term basis.

When investing in streaming royalties, a higher of streams is obviously attractive. However, if a track is just a flash in the pan, those royalties tend to dry up after a little while. You can make a more reliable judgement about whether a song has streaming staying power after its first twelve months. This concept, coined “Dollar Age” by Royalty Exchange, refers to the value of a song’s royalties after an extended period of time. It can help significantly with making a decision about whether to invest in a track’s streaming royalties.

Take a look at the top ten most streamed songs on Spotify (as of 2023).

# 10 – Believer – Imagine Dragons

# 9 – Closer – The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey

# 8 – Stay – The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber

# 7 – One Dance – Drake ft. Wizkid and Kyla

# 6 – Sunflower – Post Malone Swae Lee

#5 – Rockstar – Post Malone ft. 21 Savage

#4 – Someone You Loved – Lewis Capaldi

#3 – Dance Monkey – Tones & I

#2 – Shape of You – Ed Sheeran

#1 – Blinding Lights – The Weeknd


The Takeaway

What can we make of this list of the most streamed songs on Spotify?

You might love every single track up there, or you might groan at the overwhelming beigeness of it all. The undeniable thing is that they are popular. A lot of these songs are several years old, some even more. If you were going to buy shares of the streaming royalties of these tracks, you could expect to pay a pretty penny.

It’s important to remember, though, that you don’t have to be a huge global superstar or household name to generate streaming royalties. Equally, you don’t have to part with thousands of dollars if you want to buy into your favourite artist’s music streaming royalties.

Fractis champions variety in music, encouraging artists from all genres and levels of their career to share their royalties with fans. The key to consistent streams on platforms like Spotify comes from clever music promotion, and the building of a fanbase and community. Work on these things, and you’re sure to see the results you’re hoping for!


Sign up to Fractis today to be first in line to get involved in a music streaming royalties revolution.