Spotify has announced its most-streamed song of all time, and it's not by Adele, Rihanna, Justin Bieber or any of today's biggest pop stars. The most-listened to track, amassing over 526 million streams, is actually "Lean On" by the group Major Lazer, helmed by superproducer Diplo.
The track surpassed the previous number one, "Thinking Out Loud," by Ed Sheeran, a much more mainstream musician compared with the relatively unknown Major Lazer. It's fair to say that fan interest in "Lean On" is more song- than artist-driven, as the group's three albums have had relatively little success when compared with that of the song.
The participation of DJ and superproducer Diplo helped the tune climb the charts this summer, as did a slew of mixes in multiple EDM genres by various top remixers. Diplo has gone from strength to strength recently, producing much of Madonna's recent "Rebel Heart" CD and then striking gold with his Jack U collaboration with Skrillex, which resulted in a huge comeback hit for Justin Bieber in the form of "Where Are U Now."
Major Lazer is a collaborative effort between Diplo, Jillionaire and Walshy Fire, and "Lean On" saw the group team up with French DJ Snake and Danish vocalist MO, who sings on the track. The style of the song encompasses multiple genres, including pop, reggae and EDM, resulting in a hopeful mid-tempo jam that became a summer 2015 anthem. The YouTube video for the song has received over 750 million views, and while the song was also a big radio hit this summer, it never reached number one on the Billboard charts.
The success of "Lean On" at Spotify underscores the demographic makeup of many subscribers to the streaming service, who are younger and more trend-driven musically than the average music fan. That's why an EDM pop song like "Lean On" received so many streams, and also why it isn't likely to hold its record for long — the next big hit is just around the corner, and it could come out of left field as did Major Lazer.
