Linkin Park’s ‘In The End’ Is First Nu-Metal Song to Reach One Billion Spotify Streams
Linkin Park's hit song "In the End" has just surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, making it the first nu-metal song to reach the milestone, as noted by the Chart Data Twitter account.
This is the second time the song, which was first released in 2000 as part of Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory debut, has crossed the one billion threshold, having obtained that amount of plays on YouTube in early July last year.
At the time "In the End" hit the mark on YouTube, the only other rock songs to experience the same level of success were Guns N' Roses' "November Rain," The Cranberries' "Zombie," Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Linkin Park breathes even rarer air regarding the recent accomplishment on Spotify with many of rock and metal's biggest, most iconic songs having yet to cross that coveted one billion mark, as seen further down the page.
Notably, Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" earned its one billionth stream in February, meanwhile Queen have three songs — "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Another One Bites the Dust" — in this category and Oasis' "Wonderwall" became the first '90s song to net one billion Spotify streams back in October.
Upon its release in October of 2000, Hybrid Theory was an instant success and was certified platinum by the RIAA in January of 2001. It has since gone on to be certified platinum 12 times with over 12 million units moved, which now accumulates physical sales as well as album equivalent digital streams.
Much of that success has been propelled by "In the End," but before the song came out, singer Chester Bennington didn't see the value in the track.
"I didn't even want it to be on the record, honestly," he told V Music more than a decade after Hybrid Theory was released. "How wrong could I have possibly been? I basically decided at that point I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, so I leave that to other people who are actually talented at somehow picking songs that people are going to like the most … now I love 'In The End' and I think it's such a great song."
Massive Rock + Metal Songs Without One Billion Spotify Streams (As of June 7, 2021)
- Guns N' Roses, "Sweet Child O' Mine" — 960,684,090
- Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" — 984,135,249
- AC/DC, "Back in Black" — 796,583,050
- Metallica, "Enter Sandman" — 672,713,396
- The Rolling Stones, "Paint it, Black" — 576,100,038
Most Streamed Spotify Songs for 66 Rock + Metal Acts (As of August, 2020)