Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s ‘Despacito’ Most Streamed Song of 2017 in U.S. With 1.3 Billion Streams
Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito," featuring Justin Bieber, was the most streamed song of 2017 in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music, with 1.3 billion streams earned.

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee‘s “Despacito” dominated the streaming world in 2017, and ranks as the most streamed song of the year. The track, which was enhanced by a remix featuring Justin Bieber, earned a total of 1.322 billion on-demand streams (both audio and video streams combined) in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. In a distant second place is Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” with 999.69 million streams. (See charts, below.)
Nielsen Music’s 2017 tracking year ran from Dec. 30, 2016 through Dec. 28, 2017. Numbers in this story are rounded. Nielsen Music began electronically tracking music sales and data in 1991.
The top 10 streamed songs were dominated by hip-hop, as a total of seven titles in the genre populate the year-end top 10. Among the top 10, the only non-rap titles are “Despacito,” “Shape of You” and Bruno Mars’ “That’s What I Like” (at No. 7).
“Despacito” was also the most-streamed song both in audio-only and video-only streams, with 595.63 million and 727.17 million streams, respectively.
Overall on-demand streams (audio and video combined) climbed 43 percent in 2017 to 618.03 billion. On-demand audio streams grew 59 percent to 400.38 billion, and on-demand video streams rose 21 percent to 217.65 billion.
R&B/hip-hop music was the overwhelming leader in terms of total on-demand streams, as the genre equaled 29.1 percent of all streams. The second-largest streaming genre was rock music, with 15.1 percent.
TOP 10 MOST STREAMED SONGS OF 2017 IN U.S., ON-DEMAND AUDIO & VIDEO COMBINED | ||
Rank | Artist, Title | Streams |
1 | Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber, “Despacito” | 1,322,799,000 |
2 | Ed Sheeran, “Shape of You” | 999,694,000 |
3 | Lil Uzi Vert, “XO Tour Llif3” | 932,820,000 |
4 | Post Malone featuring Quavo, “Congratulations” | 910,667,000 |
5 | Kendrick Lamar, “Humble.” | 885,588,000 |
6 | Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert, “Bad and Boujee” | 858,123,000 |
7 | Bruno Mars, “That’s What I Like” | 835,856,000 |
8 | Future, “Mask Off” | 778,571,000 |
9 | Cardi B, “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” | 724,118,000 |
10 | Kyle featuring Lil Yachty, “iSpy” | 693,564,000 |
Source: Nielsen Music, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2016 through Dec. 28, 2017. |
TOP 10 ON-DEMAND STREAMS OF 2017 IN U.S., AUDIO-ONLY | |||
Rank | Artist, Title | Streams | |
1 | Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber, “Despacito” | 595,626,000 | |
2 | Kendrick Lamar, “Humble.” | 580,866,000 | |
3 | Lil Uzi Vert, “XO Tour Llif3” | 570,781,000 | |
4 | Post Malone featuring Quavo, “Congratulations” | 520,639,000 | |
5 | Ed Sheeran, “Shape of You” | 491,092,000 | |
6 | Future, “Mask Off” | 486,734,000 | |
7 | Post Malone featuring 21 Savage, “Rockstar” | 434,060,000 | |
8 | Khalid, “Location” | 418,006,000 | |
9 | Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert, “Bad and Boujee” | 414,262,000 | |
10 | French Montana featuring Swae Lee, “Unforgettable” | 401,043,000 | |
Source: Nielsen Music, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2016 through Dec. 28, 2017. |
TOP 10 ON-DEMAND STREAMS OF 2017 IN U.S., VIDEO-ONLY | ||
Rank | Artist, Title | Streams |
1 | Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber, “Despacito” | 727,173,000 |
2 | Ed Sheeran, “Shape of You” | 508,602,000 |
3 | Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert, “Bad and Boujee” | 443,861,000 |
4 | Bruno Mars, “That’s What I Like” | 440,709,000 |
5 | Cardi B, “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” | 407,386,000 |
6 | Post Malone featuring Quavo, “Congratulations” | 390,029,000 |
7 | Ayo & Teo, “Rolex” | 378,446,000 |
8 | Lil Uzi Vert, “XO Tour Llif3” | 362,039,000 |
9 | Kyle featuring Lil Yachty, “iSpy” | 317,938,000 |
10 | Kendrick Lamar, “Humble.” | 304,721,000 |
Source: Nielsen Music, for the tracking period Dec. 30, 2016 through Dec. 28, 2017. |