Streaming, especially through apps like Spotify, has come to dominate the way we listen to music. As such, the financial implications of such streaming services are enormous for music artists, as charting songs in the Billboard Hot 100 rake in millions in streaming revenue.
But which hit Billboard songs are charting the highest in terms of Spotify earnings? Below, we’ll dive into the Billboard Hot 100 songs that have peaked in the top three since 2015 to reveal which have the most Spotify streams, earning artists the most money. We’ll also break this down by gender, genre, year and look at the debut artists earning the most.
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The Top-Earning Billboard Songs Over The Last Decade
1) Blinding Lights - The Weeknd
Estimated revenue generated from Spotify streams: C$27.0M
Among the Billboard Hot 100 songs that have peaked in the top three in the past ten years, “Blinding Lights” by Canadian artist The Weeknd has the highest Spotify earnings. Based on its number of Spotify streams, around 4.84 billion, it earned an estimated C$27 (US$19.3/£14.5) million.
The song was also crowned as the best-performing and longest-charting in Billboard Hot 100 history, being in the top 100 for 90 weeks.
2) Shape of You - Ed Sheeran
Estimated revenue generated from Spotify streams: C$24.3M
"Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran is second among Billboard Hot 100 songs with the highest Spotify earnings in the past decade. Originally, Sheeran had written the song for Rihanna, but ultimately kept it for himself after making some tweaks.
The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and has since been streamed 4.36 billion times on Spotify. As such, based on those streams, the song has earned Sheeran an estimated C$24.3 (US$17.4/£13.1) million.
3) Someone You Loved - Lewis Capaldi
Estimated revenue generated from Spotify streams: C$21.8M
In third place, we have “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi, which was released on his debut album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.
On Spotify, it has been streamed 3.9 billion times, generating an estimated revenue of C$21.8 (US$15.6/£11.7) million. Capadli opened up about the song, revealing that the loss of his grandmother inspired it, but he also kept the song ambiguous enough to be interpreted romantically for broader appeal.
The Top-Earning Billboard Songs By Year
Over the past decade, one clear trend has emerged: streaming longevity matters as much as peak chart position. From The Weeknd's retro anthem to Juice WRLD's emo-rap breakthrough, the most lucrative hits aren't always the newest; they’re the most replayed.
The most recent song, “Die with a Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, is the highest-earning song in 2025 at the time of writing. It already has 2.46 billion streams on Spotify since its release, generating C$13.7 (US$9.8/£7.4) million in revenue. It also holds a few Spotify records, the fastest song to reach one and two billion streams, and the longest-reigning daily number one.
Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran appear in this list twice, the former with “Stay,” featuring The Kid LAROI and “Love Yourself,” which Sheeran wrote. And “Stay” was The Kid LAROI’s first number one hit, making him the first Australian solo artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 in over a decade.
Only three songs by female artists appear in this list — two as solo acts (Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish), and one as part of a collaboration (Lady Gaga with Bruno Mars). This highlights an ongoing gender gap in streaming earnings for Billboard-topping songs.
The Top-Earning Billboard Songs By Male Artists
Canadian artist The Weeknd comes out on top again among the male artists, earning around C$27 (US$19.3/£14.5 million in Spotify streaming revenue from “Blinding Lights.” Billboard crowned it the greatest Hot 100 song of all time, and The Weeknd even performed it as the climax of his 2021 Super Bowl halftime show. Yet, controversially, the song never received any Grammy nominations, despite its commercial success and even being viral on TikTok, being used in more than 1.8 million videos, which is rare for a non-dance track.
Elsewhere in the top ten, Ed Sheeran appears on this list three separate times, more than any other artist, with “Perfect,” “Thinking Out Loud,” and “Shape of You,” which held the title of most-streamed song on Spotify for several years and still ranks among the very top. Combined, these songs have generated C$58.9 (US$42.2/£31.7) million.
Six out of the top ten songs by male artists are also by British performers, Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles and Lewis Capaldi. The strong UK presence reinforces how influential the British pop scene remains globally, especially considering that all of these UK artists are known for ballads or softer pop, in contrast to more beat-driven global chart trends.
Many of the top earners are slower and more emotionally charged songs, such as “Perfect,” “Someone You Loved,” and “Lucid Dreams.” The latter was written by Juice WRLD when he was just 17, and became a song that defined the genre of emo-rap.
Dua Lipa comes in first for her song “Don’t Start Now,” which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 in second place during 2020. The song utilizes 1980s disco sounds, inspired by Daft Punk and the Bee Gees and is attributed as the song that began the 2020 disco music revival. It also went viral on TikTok, being used in 2.7 million videos, with Filipino user Hannah Kayle Balanay creating a dance that was eventually incorporated into Fortnite as an emote.
Billie Eilish appears on the list twice, with her songs “Bad Guy” and “Birds of a Feather” ranking within the top five and earning just under C$30 million combined. The former track helped Billie sweep at the Grammy Awards that year, winning Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist.
Olivia Rodrigo also appears twice, with “Driver’s License” and “Good 4 U,” the former of which broke Spotify’s record for most streams in a week for a non-holiday song in 2021. A few of the songs on the list also went viral on TikTok, contributing to their success with “Cruel Summer” and “Drivers License” being used in 2.2 million and 876,000 videos, respectively.
The Top-Earning Billboard Songs By Genre
Half of the top ten-earning songs were in the pop genre, and a further 77 songs in the genre ranked in the top three Billboard Hot 100 in the last decade. On average, this genre generated C$9.7 (US$7/£5.2) million in Spotify streaming revenue. Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” is the highest earner in the genre, and Sheeran appears a further four times within the genre.
Hip-hop has had the second-highest number of songs appear in the Billboard Hot 100 over the last decade, with 74. The song that comes out on top for estimated earnings on Spotify in the genre is “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee, with 3.82 billion streams generating around C$21.3 ($US15.3/£11.4) million in revenue. It was initially released in 2018 for the movie soundtrack of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Post Malone also features a second time, as the singer of “Circles,” the highest-earning song in the pop-rock genre.
Pop rap, a fusion genre pairing lyricism and melodic vocals, has had the third-highest number of songs in the Billboard top three within the last decade. The highest-earning song in the genre is “Stay” by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, which has earned an estimated C$19.8 (US$14.2/£10.6) million in Spotify streaming revenue based on its 3.55 billion streams.
A major outlier, the country genre had nine songs that peaked in the top three of the Billboard Hot 100 in the last decade. However, “Meant to Be” by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line is the only song in the top five genres to not peak at number one. Additionally, this song has the lowest streaming revenue from Spotify. Despite this, it was the third-best-selling song in the US for 2018 and was nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
The Top-Earning Billboard Songs By Debut Artists
Just five songs by debut artists have featured in the top three of the Billboard Hot 100 over the last decade, with just two reaching the number one spot. “Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo is one such example. It is her debut single, released in 2021. The song has 2.49 billion streams on Spotify, which has earned her an estimated hefty amount of revenue.
“Panda” by Desiigner was the only other debut song in the last decade to have reached the Billboard top three and go on to reach the top spot. The song has since generated an estimated C$6.9 (US$4.9/£3.7) million in Spotify streaming revenue.
Gayle, the other female artist in this list, peaked at third on the Billboard Hot 100 with her song “abcdefu,” which earned an estimated C$6.8 (US$4.8/£3.6) million in Spotify revenue. Additionally, “abcdefu” and “Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo also went viral on TikTok, being used in 1.5 million and just under one million videos, respectively, highlighting how TikTok has been used as an effective marketing tool by music artists in recent years.
Methodology
Using Wikipedia, we made a list of each Billboard Hot 100 song that peaked in the top three from 2015 to 2025. We recorded the song title, artist's name, artist's gender, genre, album, and release date.
We then used Spotify to record the number of streams for each song.
Then, using Music Gateway’s royalties calculator, we input the number of Spotify streams for each song to get the estimated revenue it has generated, which is recorded in USD. Currencies were converted into GBP and CAD on 19/05/2025 using Google Finance.
Note: for the gender breakdowns, groups and songs by multiple artists were omitted from the rankings.
All data was collected in May 2025 and is correct as of then.
