Duncan Laurence's Arcade becomes first Eurovision song to hit one billion streams on Spotify

Duncan Laurence has achieved a significant milestone on Spotify. His 2019 Eurovision-winning hit, "Arcade," has been streamed over 1 billion times as of Tuesday, officially entering Spotify's prestigious "Billions Club." It becomes the first Eurovision entry in history to surpass 1 billion streams on Spotify.

“I had to pinch myself for a while. Just to see if I haven’t been dreaming for the last couple of years. But no, it’s really true”, the Dutch singer wrote on Instagram. “When I realize people pressed play on Arcade a billion times, my head starts spinning. I’m so grateful that this song I wrote straight from my heart found its place in the 'Billion Club' playlist.”

Laurence is only the third Dutch artist to amass a billion streams for a single track. Only the globally renowned DJs Martin Garrix and Tiësto have accomplished this before him. The fact that Laurence, relatively lesser-known internationally, matches this feat makes it especially remarkable.

After winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019 with "Arcade," the song was a modest hit in Europe. However, two years later, it gained renewed popularity through TikTok, where many users featured the song in their videos. This exposure propelled "Arcade" to hit status not just in Europe but also in North and South America and Asia.

As of last weekend, Spotify's "Billions Club" included only 459 songs. "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd leads the pack with over 3.7 billion streams. It is followed by Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" (3.57 billion) and Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved" (2.9 billion).

Dutch contributions to this club have been limited. Martin Garrix's "In The Name of Love" with Bebe Rexha has garnered over 1.3 billion streams, and "Scared to Be Lonely," a collaboration between Garrix and Dua Lipa, boasts just over 1.1 billion streams. Tiësto's track "The Business" rounds out the Dutch representation with nearly 1.07 billion streams.

Music journalist Atze de Vrieze highlighted in NOS that the TikTok success certainly played a role in "Arcade" reaching one billion streams. "Not every song that wins at the festival achieves this level of success," he noted. De Vrieze also found it noteworthy that Laurence does not perform on stage frequently, especially compared to Dutch DJs Garrix and Tiësto, who tour globally and have significant international fame.