Norwegian pop group a-ha reached three billion Spotify streams with their 1985 hit „Take On Me“, becoming the first song from Norway to cross that threshold.”
The 42-year-old pop classic stands as the 86th track globally to achieve three billion streams on the platform. Figures compiled by Spotify and Kworb and reported by the Norwegian newspaper VG show that only nine tracks out of the top 85 most-streamed songs originated before the year 2000. Just five tracks in total predate the a-ha single, including Queen’s „Bohemian Rhapsody“ and Michael Jackson’s „Billie Jean“.””
- A-ha’s „Take On Me“ is the first Norwegian song to surpass three billion streams on Spotify.
- The track enters a rare tier as one of only five songs older than the hit to rank higher globally.
- Television and film syncs drive approximately 1.4 million daily streams on the platform.
The track entered Spotify’s top 200 most-streamed songs list on August 18, 2018. Daily playback currently hovers around 1.4 million streams.
A-ha manager Harald Wiik estimates that „Take On Me“ appears in 30 to 50 international film and television productions each year. Recent syncs include prominent placements in the post-apocalyptic HBO series „The Last of Us“.””
Total consumption across all streaming platforms reaches approximately seven billion streams. YouTube accounts for 2.5 billion of those total plays.
Wiik identifies the United States, Brazil, and Mexico as the three largest markets for the track. The song originally claimed the number one spot in Germany in November 1985, displacing Modern Talking’s „Cheri, Cheri Lady“ and holding the position for five weeks.”
| Metric | Data Point |
|---|---|
| Spotify Streams | Over 3 billion |
| Global Rank Tier | 86th song overall |
| Daily Spotify Plays | 1.4 million |
| All-Platform Total | 7 billion streams |
The most impressive aspect remains the sustained multi-format performance rather than individual chart peaks in the US or roughly 30 other countries. „Das Beeindruckendste sei aber nicht der erste Platz in den USA oder die rund 30 weiteren Spitzenplätze weltweit, sondern dass der Song ‚in allen Formaten ein fantastischer, anhaltender Erfolg‘ sei,“ said Wiik, as reported by VG.’”
