The Beatles' music has been available on Spotify and other streaming services since Christmas Eve, and the preliminary data is in.
"Come Together" is the band's most popular song on Spotify, according to data provided by the streaming service. The Abbey Road cut has been the most played song both domestically and globally.
It's not a shocker—"Come Together" is both a rock radio staple and an album opener—but the rest of the list reveals the enduring popularity of the Beatles' more sensitive ballads.
"Hey Jude," which Paul McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennon's son Julian, lands in the top three on both lists. The 1970 ballad "Let It Be" and the George Harrison classic "Here Comes the Sun" were also among the most played tracks.
The band's more rock-oriented early tracks also had a good showing, particularly on the global chart, which has "Love Me Do," "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Help!"
Fun fact: Not one song from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is frequently cited as the best or most influential rock album of all time, landed on either list.
Meanwhile, the Beatles' immense popularity seems to have translated well to the streaming formats. Beatles songs were added to more than 673,000 playlists in two days alone, according to The Independent.
Here are the top 10 Beatles tracks on Spotify, according to global data:
1. "Come Together"
2. "Let It Be"
3. "Hey Jude"
4. "Love Me Do"
5. "Yesterday"
6. "Here Comes the Sun"
7. "Help!"
8. "All You Need Is Love"
9. "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
10. "Twist and Shout"
And here's the same list, based on U.S. figures:
1. "Come Together" - remastered
2. "Hey Jude" - remastered 2015
3. "Here Comes the Sun" - remastered
4. "Let It Be" - remastered
5. "Twist and Shout" - remastered
6. "Blackbird" - remastered
7. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - remastered 2015
8. "In My Life" - remastered
9. "She Loves You" - mono/remastered
10. "Help!" - remastered
It is nice to live in a world where a song that contains the lines "He wear no shoeshine / He's got toe-jam football / He got monkey finger / He shoot Coca-Cola" can be monstrously successful.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Zach Schonfeld is a senior writer for Newsweek, where he covers culture for the print magazine. Previously, he was an ... Read more
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