The number 1 song globally for 2023 was Miley Cyrus's "Flowers," which dominated streaming charts, had massive global streams, and was the top-selling single in the UK, while Billboard's year-end charts crowned Morgan Wallen's "Last Night" for the U.S., showing slight variations by region and chart.
"Last Night" by American country singer Morgan Wallen is the year's longest-running number-one song on the Hot 100 in 2023, having spent sixteen weeks at the top spot; it subsequently topped the Billboard Year-End Hot 100.
The top most streamed song of the year belongs to Miley Cyrus, with her record-breaking song 'Flowers'. It was streamed over one billion streams, 1.6 billion streams globally to be exact.
Miley Cyrus secured the best-selling single of 2023 with "Flowers", which topped the chart for ten weeks and became the longest-running chart-topper of the 2020s by a female artist.
The #1 trending song today varies slightly by platform, but "Die With A Smile" by Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars is huge globally and on pop charts, while "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean is a top hit in Australia, and "End of Beginning" by Djo is #1 on Spotify's global chart, showing different popular tracks across charts.
“End Of Beginning” by Djo remains at #1 on the Spotify global chart with 8.81 million streams.
The number one streamed song of all time, primarily on Spotify, is "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd, having surpassed 5 billion streams and holding the top spot over other massive hits like Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and The Weeknd's "Starboy".
Trending Songs 2023
"Candle in the Wind 1997" / "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John is the best-selling single in the UK. The best-selling single in the UK is "Something About the Way You Look Tonight"/"Candle in the Wind 1997", a double A-side released by Elton John following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The #1 most-viewed song on YouTube is "Baby Shark Dance" by Pinkfong, with over 16 billion views, followed by "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and "Wheels on the Bus" by Cocomelon. For streaming services like Spotify, The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" is the most-streamed song of all time.
Indian playback singer Arijit Singh is the most-followed artist on Spotify.
As of late 2025, Taylor Swift is widely considered the number one artist globally, holding titles as the top-selling artist for 2024 by the IFPI, the most-streamed on Spotify and Apple Music in 2024, and topping Billboard's 21st Century Artists list; however, Bad Bunny was Spotify's most-streamed artist for 2025, showing immense popularity, while Ariana Grande recently topped monthly listeners on Spotify, highlighting different metrics for "number one".
The number one YouTube channel by subscriber count is MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), who surpassed Indian music network T-Series in early 2025 and now leads with over 450 million subscribers, known for massive stunts, giveaways, and philanthropy. T-Series remains a strong second, followed by children's content creators like Cocomelon, making MrBeast the top individual creator on the platform, according to data from late 2025 and early 2026.
Bad Bunny is once again Spotify's Global Top Artist
Rounding out the top five artists are Taylor Swift in second place (but first in the U.S.), followed by The Weeknd (third), Drake (fourth), and Billie Eilish (fifth).
There's no single definitive "top 5," as it's subjective, but major lists often feature classics like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, The Beatles' "Hey Jude," and David Bowie's "Heroes," while some modern hits like The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" appear on chart-based lists, showing a blend of critical acclaim and commercial success across different eras.
Trending Today
Gen Z music is going genre-less
Sure, they like their genres, but they're just as likely to call themselves fans of glitchcore as they are of cloud rap, kawaii metal, or hyperpop.
As of early January 2026, The Weeknd is generally considered #1 on Spotify for monthly listeners, but Taylor Swift is the most-streamed artist in Spotify's history and often leads overall popularity, with Bruno Mars recently hitting a historic 150 million monthly listeners. The #1 spot can change daily, but The Weeknd currently leads in recent monthly listeners, while Bad Bunny remains a top contender, and Taylor Swift dominates overall historical streams.
The song “One Sweet Day,” by Mariah Carey, which she recorded with Boyz II Men, holds the longest- running number one song in history. The song spent 16 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
Today's Hits
The only songs in history to reach 4 billion streams on Spotify: • Blinding Lights — 4.93B • Shape of You — 4.46B • Starboy — 4B. Starboy.