The original “Despacito” and its version with Bieber have combined for 4.6 billion streams across all platforms since the song’s release in January.
The previous record-holder was Bieber‘s 2015 single “Sorry,” which has accumulated 4.38 billion streams. “Despacito” has spent 10 straight weeks at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. Fonsi released the song in January before making a play for the charts by adding a Spanish-singing Bieber to it in April.
Sir Lucian Grainge, the chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, praised Fonsi and “Despacito” in the following statement:
“Luis Fonsi already had the undisputed, biggest song of the year – and now he’s setting even bigger records. Streaming has opened up the possibility of a song with a different beat, from a different culture and in a different language to become a juggernaut of success around the world. My congratulations to Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber, as well as everyone at Universal Music Latin Entertainment, Republic Records and Def Jam, on this tremendous accomplishment.”
