What is the most played song ever?
Nobody famous sang this tune. It was never a hit single and got almost no play on Top 40 radio. There’s even a dispute over the exact title. Yet “It’s a Small World,” also known as “It’s a Small, Small World” and “It’s a Small World (After All),” is very likely the most played song in music history — nearly 50 million times. And it was first heard 50 years ago this month [April, 2014].
Various sources cite the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (1964) as having more than eight million plays on radio and TV, and The Beatles’ “Yesterday” (1965) with at least seven million in the U.S. alone, and many more in the rest of the world. Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” introduced by Bing Crosby in 1942, has inundated the airwaves ever since, but for only a few weeks each year. There’s little debate that Patty and Mildred Hill’s “Happy Birthday to You” (originally “Good Morning to You”) has been performed more than any other song, but not in public; if you do, and don’t pay royalties, the possessive copyright holders at Warner/Chappell Music will sue your pants off — and take all your birthday gifts, too.
That leaves “It’s a Small World,” composed by Disney staff writers Richard and Robert Sherman for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair pavilion ride officially known as “PEPSI Present’s Walt Disney’s ‘It’s a Small World’ — a Salute to UNICEF and the World’s Children.” In his authoritative 1998 book Songwriters: A Biographical Dictionary with Discographies, Nigel Harrison proclaims the song “the most performed composition in the world.” Richard Sherman, the surviving brother, thinks so too.
“Yet “It’s a Small World,” also known as “It’s a Small, Small World” and “It’s a Small World (After All),” is very likely the most played song in music history — nearly 50 million times”
Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off has 634 million plays on youtube.
Other songs are in that neighborhood as well.
There is a certain Korean music video that has received over two billion plays. Whether you want to call the audio component of the video a “song” is a good question, though.
April 1st? Never heard of this song, although this isn’t the easiest version to recognize with all its performance switches.
A while ago I looked up the wikipedia page (with all its potential inaccuracies) for the best selling song of all time. It was dominated by charity songs – We are the World, Candle in the Wind – and songs from when there were only three record choices in the shops, like White Christmas and Rock Around the Clock.
What was interesting to me was the best selling song since Love Me Do in 1962 and before the download era made purchases trivial. At the time it listed the Eurodisco classic Yes Sir, I can Boogie. Now there’s taste for you!
The pages have been changed a lot since then and there’s more detail from international sales: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles#15_million_copies_or_more
Up top would be the various versions of You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.