Linkin Park Have the Most-Streamed Heavy Album of All Time on Spotify
Ever wondered how various artists from throughout the metal and hard rock communities stack up against one another when it comes to YouTube views, Apple Music streams, pure album sales, ticket sales (back when those were a thing… and when they become so again) and other metrics? Stream N’ Destroy is a newsletter that features all of those things and then some. Compiled by metal journalist and manager Ryan J. Downey, Stream N’ Destroy, which arrives a couple of times a week, has quickly become one of our most anticipated reads the moment it hits our inbox.
The most recent Stream N’ Destroy newsletter, which arrived last Friday (April 28), highlights some all-time streaming figures, including those on the world’s largest audio streaming platform, Spotify. This list of albums was hand-assembled by Downey to include only metal, punk and hard rock bands, and only studio albums are eligible; no live records, compilations, greatest hits packages, box sets, 7” EPs, demos, or any other configurations are considered.
Have a look at the first 30 entries of the chart below.
Spotify’s 150 Most-Streamed
Hard Rock, Metal, Punk(ish) Albums
- Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory (2000) 2.67 billion streams
- Nirvana, Nevermind (1991) 2.62 billion streams
- Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction (1987) 2.4B
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Californication (1999) 2.2B
- Queen, A Night at the Opera (1975) 2.1B
- Linkin Park, Meteora (2003) 2.08B
- Metallica, Metallica (1991) 2.04B
- Panic! At The Disco, Pray for the Wicked (2018) 1.9B
- AC/DC, Back in Black (1980) 1.88B
- Panic! At The Disco, Death of a Bachelor (2016) 1.81B
- System Of A Down, Toxicity (2001) 1.76B
- My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade (2006) 1.75B
- Fall Out Boy, American Beauty/American Psycho (2015) 1.71B
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium (2006) 1.71B
- Pink Floyd, The Wall (1979) 1.69B
- Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet (1986) 1.61B
- Queen, The Game (1980) 1.52B
- Green Day, American Idiot (2004) 1.48B
- Queen, Jazz (1978) 1.43B
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, By the Way (2002) 1.37B
- Blink-182, Enema of the State (1999) 1.34B
- Journey, Escape (1981) 1.29B
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) 1.29B
- Linkin Park, Minutes to Midnight (2007) 1.25B
- Queen, News of the World (1977) 1.25B
- Fall Out Boy, Save Rock and Roll (2013) 1.23B
- Green Day, Dookie (1994) 1.21B
- Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) 1.19B
- Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV (1971) 1.18B
- Pearl Jam, Ten (1991) 1.18B
For the rest of the list, which includes 139 albums, and for more charts and lists piped into your inbox on a regular basis, sign up for Stream N’ Destroy right here.
