Vintage acts catching up to current chart stars on streaming

Streaming platforms have been owned by the world’s current pop artists but now heritage acts are clocking up billions of plays. See list of top stream throwback artists.

Kathy McCabe

@McCabeRadar

3 min read

January 1, 2022 - 5:00AM

News Corp Australia Network

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Music

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When Elton John first sang the Rocketman lyrics “And I think it’s gonna be a long, long time” in 1972, he could never have imagined 50 years later they would rocket him to No. 1 with the global pop smash Cold Heart.

Nor that a biopic titled Rocketman would launch his ascent into the streaming stratosphere, competing with the digital era’s pop playlist superstars including his mate Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, Drake, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and our own Tones And I.

It has indeed been a long, long time for legacy artists such as Elton and The Beatles to generate hundreds of millions of streams for the songs their fans already have on vinyl, CD or as a digital download.

Elton John’s old stuff is getting a boost on streaming thanks to new hits and biopic. Picture: Gregg Kemp

A Spotify data dive commissioned by News Corp Australia revealed Fleetwood Mac is the most streamed classic artist on the streaming platform, followed by Elton John, The Beatles, Queen and AC/DC.

The surge of music biopics and TikTok viral video trends have proven to have greater power to boost streams for classic tracks compared with the tired and predictable anniversary campaigns loved by record labels.

Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams was discovered by a new generation of fans in October 2020, courtesy of the now legendary TikTok video featuring Nathan Apodaca lipsyncing to the track as he skateboarded down the highway chugging cranberry juice.

The viral video sent fans to Spotify and other streaming platforms to enjoy the entire version of the 1977 hit and it re-entered the ARIA charts at No.4. It remains in the ARIA top 50 more than a year later, as does the Mac’s album Rumours.

Spotify Australia’s head of music Alicia Sbrugnera said lockdowns over the past two years also fuelled a voracious appetite for throwback songs.

“In the last year, we’ve seen a much bigger older audience joining Millennials on the platform and they’re rediscovering all of their favourite music,” she said.

But it tends to be global pop culture moments which provide the bigger boost and keep fans streaming in the months after.

What goes viral on television or TikTok will show up on streaming and pop charts the next week.

Songs featured in The Beatles doco scored a lot of play on Spotify in late 2021. Picture: AFP.

The Beatles may leapfrog to the top of the classic artists list next year courtesy of Peter Jackson’s documentary series Get Back.

The Let It Be album, whose songs featured on the doco, was back in the top 50 after the Disney series premiered in late November.

Gen Z’s “fauxstalgia” is also driving the resurgence of legacy pop and rock, according to Sbrugnera.

These young music fans buy into the “authenticity” of heritage artists as well as clothing brands and other consumer goods.

Streamers can’t get enough of Queen with at least four songs over one billion plays. Picture: Supplied

They are reviving those songs on TikTok and then deep diving into the rest of the catalogue via streaming playlists.

“They want to rediscover something from the past and own it,” she said.

“That obviously happened in the case of Fleetwood Mac but we also saw it this year with the Hilltop Hoods and their 2003 hit Nosebleed Section which they were using to share memories of growing up in Australia.”

It also happened with Boney M’s Rasputin, the Bee Gees’ More Than A Woman and Earth Wind And Fire’s Let’s Groove which all soundtracked viral TikTok videos last year.

Nineties and naughties rockers Silverchair enjoyed a 35 per cent increase in their streams when the Who Is Daniel Johns? podcast launched in October.

Smells Like Teen Spirit cracked the one billion streams in 2021. Picture: Supplied

And while they are as predictable as a new Adele album going No. 1, anniversary “celebrations” do pack on the streams.

The 30th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind record saw the grunge anthem Smells Like Teen Spirit surpass one billion streams last year and it was the second most streamed throwback album on Spotify for 2021 behind Rumours.

The This Is Savage Garden playlist enjoyed a 60 per cent jump in streams off the back of the promotion of the 25th anniversary of their global smash I Want You.

And the ongoing trend of reinventing old pop faves with dance remixes is boosting streams for 80s icons including Whitney Houston, Tina Turner and Janet Jackson.