David Bowie’s hottest songs ranked – ‘Starman’ not number one | Music | Entertainment | EUROtoday

David Bowie’s catalogue was by no means meant to fade with time. The man “who fell to Earth” had a imaginative and prescient of fixed evolution – from Ziggy to the Thin White Duke, from Berlin basements to MTV megastardom. He reinvented pop, styled it in one thing futuristic, and gave outsiders in every single place an icon to narrate to.

With over a billion mixed performs on Spotify alone, Bowie’s music continues to hit amongst listeners worldwide – a testomony to his everlasting cultural affect and creativity.

Here are David Bowie’s prime 10 most-streamed tracks on Spotify, ranked by complete international performs:

10. Modern Love

219,581,004 streams

Lifted from 1983’s Let’s Dance, ‘Modern Love’ kicks off our listing with a thunderclap of optimism. The opening monitor from Bowie’s greatest business album, it was crafted in collaboration with producer Nile Rodgers and powered by the late, nice Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar.

Bowie used its gospel-inspired refrain and punchy beat to look at love in an age of paranoia, religious confusion and emotional distance. The music made an enormous splash on the time, charting excessive in each the UK and US, however it’s the posthumous enhance that’s introduced it to a whole lot of thousands and thousands of streams in the present day.

Featured memorably within the opening of Frances Ha and once more in Asteroid City in 2023, ‘Modern Love’ has endured as a feel-good anthem with lyrical depth hiding beneath the rhythm.

9. Changes

229,465,524 streams

‘Changes’ wasn’t a success when it was first launched in 1971. It didn’t crack the Top 40 till years later, lengthy after its mother or father album Hunky Dory had grow to be a cult traditional. But time has handled ‘Changes’ nicely – and now it stands as one in every of Bowie’s most enduring anthems.

Decades later, ‘Changes’ has been used to underscore every thing from private comebacks to political shifts. It additionally bought a second wind of fame due to soundtracks (Shrek 2, for instance), promoting syncs, and its ever-relevant message.

8. Moonage Daydream

250,141,997 streams

Originally written for an additional venture, ‘Moonage Daydream’ discovered its dwelling on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in 1972. It’s wild, enjoyable and filled with space-age swagger – Bowie as intergalactic prophet, totally embracing the Ziggy persona. The lyrics, a mix of surreal sci-fi and rock ‘n’ roll sexuality, are as over-the-top as they’re unforgettable: “I’m an alligator / I’m a mama-papa coming for you”.

‘Moonage Daydream’ is now additionally the title of the 2022 Brett Morgen documentary that introduced uncommon footage and Bowie’s voice to a brand new era – whcih led to a serious streaming enhance.

7. Let’s Dance

331,026,465 streams

When Bowie launched ‘Let’s Dance’ in 1983, some followers had been puzzled by the shiny manufacturing and radio-friendly sound. But with Nile Rodgers on the helm, Bowie was chasing one thing larger: a world viewers.

‘Let’s Dance’ grew to become his greatest hit because the Seventies, reaching primary within the UK, US, and throughout Europe. The music’s heavy rhythm, danceable beat, and lyrical cry for emotional vulnerability labored particularly in golf equipment and on MTV.

The monitor additionally signalled a method evolution, as Bowie stepped out of the art-rock shadows into pop’s brightest spotlights.

6. Life on Mars?

351,203,399 streams

A monitor so layered and surreal that even Bowie as soon as joked it was “a cross between a Broadway musical and Salvador Dalí,” ‘Life on Mars?’ stays a fan favorite a long time after its 1971 launch. The music initially started as a parody response to Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ (it shares the identical chord development), however it advanced right into a cinematic ballad.

Its imagery is famously enigmatic – with Mickey Mouse, Ibiza, and lawman concerned – however the emotion is there. Following Bowie’s demise in 2016, the music’s streams surged – and it’s been coated endlessly and utilized in every thing from American Horror Story to Doctor Who.

5. Rebel Rebel

416,781,241 streams

‘Rebel Rebel’ was Bowie’s closing glam-rock single earlier than the chameleon moved into the soul-infused Young Americans period. Released in 1974, it was a gender-bending anthem for teenage misfits, opening with probably the most recognisable guitar riffs of the last decade. Though typically mistaken for a Rolling Stones monitor, Bowie even performed all of the devices on the unique recording himself.

It’s lengthy been hailed as a pre-punk traditional and a queer anthem. It didn’t chart as excessive as his greatest hits on the time, however in the long term, it grew to become one in every of his most enduring.

4. Space Oddity

425,310,156 streams

Originally launched simply days earlier than the Apollo 11 moon touchdown in July 1969, ‘Space Oddity’ launched the world to Major Tom, the doomed astronaut who grew to become a recurring character in Bowie’s musical universe. The BBC famously performed it throughout protection of the moon mission, and it gave Bowie his first actual hit – a Top 5 within the UK, and ultimately a US success when reissued within the Seventies.

The music’s legacy is huge – it’s been coated and referenced numerous occasions, and its mix of science fiction and psychological introspection set a template for Bowie’s future work.

3. Heroes

568,725,348 streams

‘Heroes’ wasn’t a success when it got here out in 1977, however over time, it grew to become probably the most vital songs Bowie ever recorded. Inspired by an actual couple kissing by the Berlin Wall (some accounts say they had been producer Tony Visconti and his girlfriend), the music is all craving and defiance – two lovers dreaming of freedom in a divided metropolis – Bowie even recorded it at Hansa Studio, simply yards from the Wall.

Its influence has solely grown. ‘Heroes’ was carried out at Live Aid in 1985, chosen by NASA for a Mars mission wake-up name, and performed at numerous ceremonies, memorials, and even the 2012 London Olympics. It’s a music that transcends context, a ballad of bravery and human hope, filled with reverb and melancholy.

2. Starman

624,106,625 streams

Bowie’s 1972 efficiency of ‘Starman’ on Top of the Pops is commonly cited because the second he actually grew to become a star. Teenage followers had been mesmerised as this glittery alien determine put his arm round guitarist Mick Ronson and sang of hope from the cosmos. It was the breakthrough second for Ziggy Stardust and a defining one for glam rock.

‘Starman’ is the story of a benevolent alien broadcasting over the radio waves, encouraging youngsters to “boogie” earlier than the top comes.

Musically, it blended 50s-style doo-wop backing vocals with space-age glam guitar. Lyrically, it hinted at salvation from above – not non secular, however extraterrestrial. It was embrace in Pixar’s Lightyear and different popular culture moments – serving to hold the monitor as related as ever.

1. Under Pressure (with Queen)

1,879,410,390 streams

It’s technically a Queen music that includes Bowie – or a Bowie music that includes Queen – however ‘Under Pressure’ stands as probably the most streamed monitor in Bowie’s whole Spotify catalogue. Recorded in Montreux in 1981 throughout a famously chaotic session, the music got here collectively virtually accidentally, born from a jam session and mutual admiration.

The iconic bassline (famously sampled by Vanilla Ice) and the emotional vocal duel between Freddie Mercury and Bowie turned it into a real traditional of its time.

Though not a chart-topper on the time within the US – surprisingly -, it topped the UK Singles Chart and have become a staple of each artists’ legacies.