'Study' shows what game music has been streamed the most.
June 29, 2022
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Game Developer and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press]
Author: Ebuyer
Minecraft’s song ‘Sweden’ by C418 gets first spot, with over 102 million Spotify streams and estimated earnings of over $408k
The Zelda theme, as well as the Super Mario theme surprisingly share the last two ranks
In the world of video games, soundtracks have always played a big role. Fans can often recognise a game without even seeing it on the screen and well-known songs like the Zelda Theme Song have been sampled in numerous new versions, such as deadmau5’s ‘You need a ladder’.
With some of the songs in games being that iconic, they’ll inevitably be listened to on streaming platforms like Spotify. E-commerce retailer Ebuyer has curated a list of the most famous songs found in video games and calculated1 the earnings based on the number of streams.
Rank Game Artist Song Streams Estimated earnings
1 Minecraft C418 Sweden 102,231,172 $408,924.69
2 Doom Mick Gordon Rip & Tear 63,644,520 $254,578.08
3 Call of Duty: Black Ops Treyarch Sound, Brian Tuey, James McCawley, Kevin Sherwood 115 54,911,005 $219,644.02
4 The Last of Us Gustavo Santaolalla, Alan Umstead The Choice 41,851,879 $167,407.52
5 Grand Theft Auto V The Chain Gang of 1974 Sleepwalking 39,088,659 $156,354.64
6 Assassin’s Creed 2 Jesper Kyd Ezio’s Family 35,383,893 $141,535.57
7 Tony Hawk Sex Pistols Anarchy in the UK 33,720,634 $134,882.54
8 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Jeremy Soule Dragonborn 31,422,280 $125,689.12
9 God of War Bear McCreary God of War 29,708,710 $118,834.84
10 Skyrim Jeremy Soule Secunda 25,526,507 $102,106.03
11 Halo: Combat Evolved Martin O’Donnell, Michael Salvatori Halo 24,779,013 $99,116.05
12 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Marcin Przybylowicz Geralt of Rivia 23,743,726 $94,974.90
13 Mass Effect 3 Clint Mansell Leaving Earth 20,363,894 $81,455.58
14 Mass Effect Jack Wall Vigil 18,035,247 $72,140.99
15 Halo 3 Martin O’Donnell, Michael Salvatori Never Forget 17,281,695 $69,126.78
16 Death Stranding: Timefall Bring me the horizon Ludens 32,667,388* $57,167.93
17 Battlefield Johan Süderqvist Battlefield One 7,484,536 $29,938.14
18 Tetris Hirokazu Tanaka Tetris Theme 5,464,504 $21,858.02
19 Halo 2 Breaking Benjamin Blow Me Away 9,670,446* $16,923.28
20 The Legend of Zelda Koji Kondo Zelda Theme Song 9,140,648* $15,996.13
21 Super Mario Koji Kondo Super Mario Theme 1,493,518 $5,974.07
The highest-earning songs
Released in 2011, C418’s song ‘Sweden’ is featured in Minecraft and has accumulated a whopping 102,231,172 streams with estimated earnings of $408,924.69. The metal song ‘Rip & Tear’ by Mick Gordon, which players listen to in Doom conquers the second rank with estimated earnings of $254,578.08 – that’s nearly 50% less than the song Sweden! The first-person shooter game Call of Duty: Black Ops also provided us with a top hit, Treychard Sound’s ‘115’ was listened to 54,911,005 times and earned $219,644.02, landing the song on third spot.
Surprisingly low earners
Some of the most memorable theme songs from older games generate surprisingly few streams today.
The Zelda Theme song’s catchy melody is embedded into the memories of many people playing video games in the late 90s, but the song was only streamed 9,140,648 times on Spotify, leading to earnings of $15,996.13 and on the 20th rank. And to close the ranking off Super Mario’s theme by Koji Kondo only has 1,493,518 streams – just a fraction of other songs on the list!
Courtney Williamson, Marketing Manager at Ebuyer comments: “Songs may be produced specifically for a game or are famous for featuring in a popular game, which then results in artists earning more – a win-win for everyone! Some themes are so memorable they can be easily recognised by a whole generation.”
To find out more about Ebuyer and the highest-earning gaming songs, please visit: https://www.ebuyer.com/blog/2022/06/the-highest-earning-gaming-songs/
[ENDS]
Notes to the editor
1 https://www.musicgateway.com/royalties-calculator
2 Data correct as of 21/06/2022
*Songs, where the number of streams could not be found on Spotify, were checked on YouTube with the earnings calculated using data specifically for YouTube streams.
About Ebuyer
Ebuyer is the UK’s largest independent electrical retailer. Based in East Yorkshire they employ 250 people and have been trading online since 1999. They stock over 30,000 products on their website and have over six million registered customers.
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