2000 Rock Classic Among Most Streamed Songs of All Time Despite Never Reaching No. 1
Not all megahits reach the top of the charts, as proved by new data released by Spotify.
On May 23, in honor of its 20th anniversary, the streaming platform released a series of lists that detailed the most-played music in its history. Among these is the "Most Streamed Songs of All Time," which highlights 20 of the top-performing tracks that have had music fans listening billions of times.
One of the songs that made the list is "Yellow" by Coldplay. Released in 2000, the track was the British rock band's breakthrough hit, catapulting the four-piece - vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion - into international stardom. Since Spotify's inception, the song has been streamed over 3.7 billion times, placing it at No. 15 in the list.
"Yellow" was the second single off the band's debut album, Parachutes. While the song has become one of Coldplay's most popular songs to date, it never reached the top spot in the charts. The track peaked at No. 4 on the Official Singles Chart in the UK, while it reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its initial release. Per Forbes, the song has since had a resurgence, hitting No. 5 on the BillboardTikTok Top 50 thanks to the song going viral among Gen-Z on the video sharing platform.
"Yellow" was written by frontman Martin, who said that it took him just ten minutes to pen the song. The inspiration for the rock anthem came unexpectedly while the band were taking a break from a studio session. At the time, they were recording the single "Shiver," when they stepped outside in the starry night.
"It was so beautiful outside," Martin said, per Guitar Player. "All four of us were outside, and Ken, he was like, ‘Look up there, lads! Look at the stars.' He literally said, ‘Look at the stars' - which is the first line of that song."
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This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 8:36 PM.