The Killers‘ ‘Mr Brightside’ has been revealed as the UK’s most streamed song in Spotify history.
To celebrate the app’s 15th anniversary, Music Week reported that Spotify have made a list of the biggest artists and tracks since its launch in October 2008. ‘Mr Brightside’ (released September 29, 2003) has over 1.8 billion streams globally as of October 9, 2023. Spotify did not release the number of UK-only streams.
‘Mr Brightside’ previously broke UK chart records in 2021 by spending 260 non-consecutive weeks in the Top 100 of the UK’s singles chart. As of October 10, that figure has risen to a whopping 382 weeks – nearly seven years.
It was released as the lead single to The Killers’ debut album ‘Hot Fuss‘, and only reached number ten as its highest chart position. But thanks to its unusually dedicated legacy, ‘Mr Brightside’ has enjoyed consistent consumption rates that have contributed to its astonishing streaming numbers.
Other top streamed tracks included Vance Joy‘s ‘Riptide’ at number six and Arctic Monkeys‘ ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ at number 7.
Spotify also unveiled the most streamed UK artists globally on Spotify over the last 15 years. Ed Sheeran took the crown as the most streamed male artist. His song ‘Shape of You’ was revealed to be the most streamed UK track globally (3.6 billion streams as of October 11).
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Meanwhile, Dua Lipa reigned as the most streamed female artist. Her hits ‘Don’t Start Now’ and ‘New Rules’ were also found in the Top 15 tracks made by UK artists of all time on the platform.
Flowers has previously said he didn’t think ‘Mr Brightside’ would become a hit if released today, citing changes in the music industry. NME writer Mark Beaumont also spoke to The Killers recently about how they wrote the sleeper hit in lead guitarist Dave Keuning’s closet.
In other news, The Killers released a new standalone single last August, ‘Your Side Of Town’. Though the band told NME in 2022 that they were set to release an album soon, Flowers revealed in a recent interview that he had scrapped the record: “Halfway through recording I realised, ‘I can’t do this,’” Flowers said, adding: “This isn’t the kind of record… I think this will be the… I don’t think you’ll see us making this type of music any more.”
He added: “This is the crisis I’m in. The Killers are my identity and our songs fill the seats, but I’m more fulfilled making music like [2021 album] ‘Pressure Machine’.