PSB IN SPOTIFY

[NOBODY75]

One day, out of curiosity, I decided to check which Pet Shop Boys songs were the most listened-to on Spotify. I don't use the platform myself, and I like to think that the bulk of these streams don't come from the die-hard fans; that’s why I wanted to look—I was curious to see which songs the world was listening to, beyond just the four or five most famous ones. I came across a few interesting things—for instance, in many cases there was more than one version of a song, so I had to combine the figures for some of them. To do that, I had to make a list. Since I’ve already put it together, I’m posting it here so any other fan who’s interested can take a look—and feel free to comment on the list if you like.
I was really surprised by the ranking of my favorite song: "King's Cross"—which wasn't even a single—came in at number 23...

[NOBODY75]

One day, out of curiosity, I decided to check which Pet Shop Boys songs were the most listened-to on Spotify. I don't use the platform myself, and I like to think that the bulk of these streams don't come from the die-hard fans; that’s why I wanted to look—I was curious to see which songs the world was listening to, beyond just the four or five most famous ones. I came across a few interesting things—for instance, in many cases there was more than one version of a song, so I had to combine the figures for some of them. To do that, I had to make a list. Since I’ve already put it together, I’m posting it here so any other fan who’s interested can take a look—and feel free to comment on the list if you like.
The number on the right represents the number of listens (in millions) for each song.

I was really surprised by the ranking of my favorite song: "King's Cross"—which wasn't even a single—came in at number 23...

1 WEST END GIRLS 460
2 ALWAYS ON 420
3 IT'S A SIN 258
4 GO WEST 185.5
5 DOMINO 140
6 WHAT HAVE I DONE 88
7 SUBURBIA 62.8
8 NY CITY 59
9 RENT 43
10 HEART 39
11 BEING BORING 37
12 OPORTUNITIES 35
13 SE A VIDA E 27
14 LOVE COMES 25
15 LEFT TO 22
16 LOVE ETC 21
17 WHERE THE STREETS 12.8
18 CAN YOU FORGIVE 11.3
19 SO HARD 11
20 THE POP KIDS 10.4
21 IT'S ALRIGHT 9.8
22 DREAMLAND 9.6
23 KINGS CROSS 7 1
24 LEAVING 6 5
25 LOVE IS A BORG.. 6.1
26 HOME AND DRY 5.8
27 MY OCTOBER 5.3
28 JEALOUSY 5.3
29 DID YOU SEE 5
30 THURSDAY 4.9
31 I WOULDN'T NORMALLY 4.8
32 PANINARO 95 4.8
33 I'M NOT SCARED 4.7
34 LONELINESS 4 3
35 THE WAY I USED 4
36 IT DOESNT OFTEN 4
37 TWO DIVIDED BY CERO 4
38 FLAMBOYANT 3.8
39 LIBERATION 3.5
40 VOCAL 3.5
41 SAY TO ME 3.4
42 THIS MUST BE... 3.3
43 ONE MORE CHANCE 3.3
44 BURN 3.3
45 TWENTY SOMETHING 3 3
46 I DONT KNOW WHAT 3.2
47 BEFORE 3.1
48 WINNER 3
49 INNER SANCTUM 3
50 HAPPINESS 2.9

[Gabby]

So you have to go all the way to 23 before you get to the first non-single track.
I'd be more interested to see this list in reverse (omitting songs with 0 plays) - the bottom 50 tracks listened to.

[NOBODY75]

So you have to go all the way to 23 before you get to the first non-single track.
I'd be more interested to see this list in reverse (omitting songs with 0 plays) - the bottom 50 tracks listened to.

I’ve checked, and I can tell you that the last one on the list—at number 500 with 116,000 plays—is "Hymn."

[Gabby]

So you have to go all the way to 23 before you get to the first non-single track.
I'd be more interested to see this list in reverse (omitting songs with 0 plays) - the bottom 50 tracks listened to.

I’ve checked, and I can tell you that the last one on the list—at number 500 with 116,000 plays—is "Hymn."

Huh! Who'd of thought!?

[OakeyDokey]

How do you find a full list for an artist?

[NOBODY75]

How do you find a full list for an artist?

Type "kworb" and the artist's name into Google, and it will come up

[Patrick Bateman]

I’ve checked, and I can tell you that the last one on the list—at number 500 with 116,000 plays—is "Hymn."

That many?

[oakey]

I’ve checked, and I can tell you that the last one on the list—at number 500 with 116,000 plays—is "Hymn."

That many?

[alternativeformat]

Interesting to me to see that the first 21st century track comes in at #16, that it's "Love etc.", and that it's almost as popular as "Left to my own devices".

Sent from my Pixel 10 Pro XL using Tapatalk

[Neilatrone]

1,660th place.

Slightly higher than George Harrison and Alphaville.

[NOBODY75]

Globally, it’s a really low ranking.
Looking at the 50 most popular songs, the very low ranking of "Vocal" also stands out to me

[Nickname]

I've made different rankings about PSB in Spotify a few months ago:
viewtopic.php?t=38713

The Top 8 is quite clear, these are the ones we should bear in mind, talking about their most acclaimed songs. Positions are more arguable, if you continue with the list.

1 - West End Girls
2 - Always on my Mind
3 - It's a Sin
4 - Go West
5 - Domino Dancing
6 - What have I done to deserve this?
7 - Suburbia
8 - New York City Boy

[rathound]

I don't really know how Spotify and their algorithms work, but I'm guessing the order of this is somewhat defined by it. I know a few years ago 'So Hard' was my most listened to song on Spotify and this was totally due to Spotify choosing to play that one after the final track of seemingly any other album I listened to by any artist finished

[Ramzy]

Yeah I think Spotify creates feedback loops - there's a famous example where, I think, the "most listened" Pavement song was an obscure bonus track, and then there's stuff like the curious popularity of Age of Consent by New Order which wasn't even a single, etc. Are these figures since the beginning of Spotify or over a particular period? The obvious anomaly is New York City Boy, which was barely even a hit by PSB standards at the time, let alone compared with their output from the Discography era. I've not knowingly heard it outside my own house in 27 years, whereas you still very regularly hear or see some of the earlier B-list hits on the radio, at the gym, on the telly, etc