Billie Eilish began the New Year with another achievement, as her song “Birds of a Feather” became the most-streamed track on Spotify in 2024.
The song, featured on her third album Hit Me Hard and Soft, claimed the top spot with 1,775,172,881 streams in 2024. It narrowly surpassed Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” which had 1,774,525,704 streams, falling short by just under 650,000.
Released in May, “Birds of a Feather” added to Eilish’s string of successes. The track, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, is nominated for multiple Grammy Awards next month, including Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
After the album’s release, Billie spent most of the fall on her headlining tour, starting in Canada, traveling through the U.S., and ending with five performances at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA. At the final show, she embraced the holiday season with a performance of “O Holy Night,” telling the audience, “I’m not really religious. I just love Christmas so much. I also grew up in a choir, so that’s just my schtick.” (You can read our full concert review here.)
Her brother, Finneas, who co-writes and produces her music, admitted to Variety last month that he wasn’t sure if “Birds of a Feather” would become as popular as it did. “In some ways, I’m kind of extra-mistrustful when people tell me they think something will be a big hit, because it feels like jinxing it—or because usually, people say that about stuff that sounds like something else that already exists,” he shared. “Nobody said that about ‘Bad Guy’ before it came out, and I think the reason nobody said that was because it really sounded new. Anyway, that being said, every time we played ‘Birds of a Feather’ for the label or our close friends, they would kind of freak out.”
