Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ Has Hit One Billion Streams on Spotify

Nirvana’s iconic anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit” has just hit one billion streams on Spotify, making it the second track from the 1990s, and the first of the Seattle grunge scene, to reach the milestone.

In October of 2020, “Wonderwall” by Brit-pop stars Oasis became the first ’90s song to rack up one billion streams, and now Nirvana have joined the billions club with their legendary Nevermind track.

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released as a single on Aug. 27, 1991, just weeks before Nevermind came out and a few months the album before knocked Michael Jackson from the top of the Billboard 200. The song in particular stirred up a lot of attention for the rock that was coming out of Seattle, and soon Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden began achieving massive commercial success as well.

Similarly, Linkin Park’s “In the End” became the first nu-metal song to hit a billion streams at the beginning of June.

Coincidentally, Spotify just recently launched its “Billions Club” playlist on June 17, which, in addition to the aforementioned songs, also features “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey and “Another One Bites the Dust” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. More recent rock artists that are in the playlist include Arctic Monkeys, Twenty One Pilots, 5 Seconds of Summer and more.