"My 'skip' button officially retired"- Internet reacts after The Weeknd's Blinding Lights becomes first song to reach 5B+ Spotify streams

On August 31, Blinding Lights by The Weeknd became the first-ever song to hit five billion streams on Spotify. The streaming giant announced the news via a congratulatory post on Instagram. It was shortly followed by The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) sharing the post with his 78.4 million followers on Instagram.

Released in November 2019 via XO and Republic Records, Blinding Lights combines genres like synthwave, synth-pop, electropop, new wave, and the like. The song was written by Max Martin, Oscar Holter, DaHeala, and Belly, and was also the second single from The Weeknd's fourth studio album, After Hours.

Blinding Lights was a chartbuster post-release, becoming the first song to remain inside Billboard Hot 100 for an entire year. In 2021, it rewrote history again by topping Billboard's Greatest of All Time 100 chart after surpassing Chubby Checker's The Twist.

At present, Blinding Lights is the most-streamed song on Spotify, becoming the first-ever musical number to surpass five billion streams. In January 2024, it became the first-ever song to cross the four billion mark on the platform.

Fans online have reacted to The Weeknd's historic achievement. Some popular online comments are as follows:

Another user shared the replay value of Blinding Lights, commenting:

As per Kworb, Blinding Lights currently has 5,000,010,581 streams on Spotify as of writing. Ed Sheeran's Shape of You comes second with just over 4.5 billion streams. The other songs to make up the top five are The Weeknd's Starboy (4.06B), Lewis Capaldi's Someone You Loved (4.03B), and Harry Styles' As It Was (4.02B).

The Weeknd is also the artist with the highest number of songs in Spotify's Billions Club with 28. He was also a part of the platform's first Billions Club: Live concert in December.

On August 28, 2025, the song also climbed atop the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Songs of the 21st Century chart. It was followed by Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow's Industry Baby, Mary J. Blige's Be Without You, Miguel's Sure Thing, and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' Thrift Shop.

The Weeknd doesn't advocate following the "dark" meaning of Blinding Lights

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The Weeknd spoke candidly about the meaning of Blinding Lights in his 2019 synth-heavy song of the same name. During an interview for the September 2020 cover for Esquire, the Grammy-winning singer opened up about the "dark" meaning behind Blinding Lights.

During the conversation, the interviewer asked about the story behind the high-speed video, which allegedly exuded a heist-y undertone. It prompted The Weeknd to dissect the significance of the song.

"'Blinding Lights' [is about] how you want to see someone at night, and you’re intoxicated, and you’re driving to this person and you’re just blinded by streetlights," he explained.

He continued:

"Nothing could stop you from trying to go see that person, because you’re so lonely. I don’t want to ever promote drunk driving, but that’s what the dark undertone is.”

The music video for Blinding Lights has already amassed over 960 million views on YouTube. It starts with the singer laughing with his teeth full of blood and a bloody nose. Thereafter, the scene switches to a seemingly inebriated Weeknd waking to his car and breaking all the speed barriers.

The fast-paced sequence is followed by the singer dancing in the middle of the road with blood pouring down from his forehead. The scene gradually shifts to The Weeknd getting punched by people inside what seems like a bar. In the end, Tesfaye runs inside a tunnel with his face filled with blood, and the song ends with the camera zooming in on the melancholy-looking protagonist.

When The Weeknd claimed he was happy Blinding Lights dropped a decade into his career

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The Weeknd spoke about the timing of Blinding Lights' release and its impact on his career during a November 2021 interview with Billboard. The song had been named as the No. 1 track on the Greatest Songs of All Time Hot 100 Chart shortly before the interview.

During the conversation, Tesfaye claimed he was glad that the song wasn't his debut single and was released a decade into his career.

"[There were] songs that transcended into pop culture, like “The Hills.” But by the time “Blinding Lights” happened, I was 10 years into my career and established as a music figure in the industry already. So I’m glad “Blinding Lights” happened when it happened as opposed to it being the first single I’ve ever dropped. That’d be scary for me," said the singer.

Speaking about the song's record-breaking numbers, he added:

"I don’t think [the success of “Blinding Lights”] has hit me yet. I try not to dwell on it too much. I just count my blessings, and I’m just grateful."

Despite the overwhelming success of Blinding Lights, it received zero Grammy nominations. The singer spoke about the awards in a November 2020 post on X, claiming:

"The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency."

At present, The Weeknd is in the middle of the After Hours Til Dawn tour with Playboi Carti. It recently became the highest-grossing R&B tour in history, beating Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour and grossing $635.5 million as of writing.

About the author

Rajarsi is a content specialist at Sportskeeda with a special focus on European football and Pop Culture. An undergraduate degree holder in Physics, he has work experience of over 2 years and has previously worked at Epic Media Labs for 18 months. A stickler for accuracy, he believes in cross-checking information only from trusted websites like Sofascore and Transfermarkt.

A Barcelona supporter, Rajarsi's tryst with the beautiful game began after watching Argentina's 2010 FIFA World Cup opening tie against Nigeria. He has been an ardent fan of Lionel Messi since then and him lifting the trophy in 2022 is his all-time favorite FIFA World Cup moment.

Rajarsi, who played football at college level and chess at district level in his childhood, considers Messi as his favorite footballer and Pep Guardiola as his favorite manager. He feels Guardiola's decision to play the left-footed Argentine in a false nine role at Barcelona is one of the most iconic tactical decisions in history.

Despite believing that no two players can emulate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's respective careers, he feels Lamine Yamal and Arda Guler could replicate the two legends' rivalry. Apart from Europe's top five leagues, he follows Major League Soccer (MLS), Brazilian Serie A, and Argentine Primera Division. He likes to read books, write fiction, and play chess in his spare time.

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Edited by Tiasha