The Weeknd’s hit song “Blinding Lights” has made history by becoming the first track to surpass 4 billion streams on Spotify. The achievement solidifies the song’s status as the all-time most-streamed on the platform. The Weeknd surpassed Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” for this title over a year ago.
The financial implications of this milestone are substantial. Based on Spotify’s payout structure, the song is estimated to have generated between $15.5 million and $17.5 million in royalties for the sound recording alone. This figure is in addition to approximately $4.5 million in publishing royalties. The payouts are calculated based on the per-stream rates that Spotify typically pays, ranging between $.003 and $.004 per stream.
While the Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, does not pocket the entire amount, the lion’s share goes to him since he owns the master recordings and licenses them to Universal’s Republic Records. The exact distribution of royalties among the song’s co-writers and co-producers, including Max Martin, Oscar Holter, Ahmad Balshe (Belly), and Jason “DaHeala” Quenneville, remains undisclosed.
The Weeknd has another song, “Starboy” from 2016, in the top 10 on Spotify, holding the sixth position with nearly 2.5 billion streams.
Comments are closed.