METALLICA's music was streamed 1.1 billion times on Spotify in 2020. This marks the second year in a row that the band's songs were played more than a billion times on the digital music service in a 12-month period. The heavy metal legends' social media revealed their latest streaming feat on Wednesday (December 30), adding that "We thought last year's numbers were insane… you guys have outdone yourselves! 99.3M hours?! That’s like if someone started listening on October 27, 9318 B.C. and never stopped. Can anyone guess what this year’s most played song was, clocking in at 128.6M streams?? "You remain the most dedicated fans in the world – thank you for spending so much of your year with us!" Back in December 2012, METALLICA made the first nine of its studio albums, as well as various live material, singles, remixes and collaborations, available for the first time on Spotify. The move was significant because Sean Parker, who co-founded Napster, later sat on the board of Spotify. METALLICA waged a battle with Napster more than a decade earlier over the illegal sharing of the band's music, which resulted in both legal action and a battered public image for the band. At the press conference in New York announcing the Spotify deal in December 6, 2012 Parker and METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich appeared together and seemingly buried the hatchet. Ulrich said, "When [Parker] and I saw each other a few months ago. We could see that we had been put down as adversaries. We realize we had much more in common and sitting down was long overdue . . . We were younger, maybe somewhat more ignorant. We sat down and had a heart to heart." In a statement at its web site, METALLICA said, "We are extremely proud to be a part of Spotify, who not only has a proven track record, but is by far the best streaming service." METALLICA is able to make these deals directly since, as of 2012, the band has complete control over the master tapes of all its audio and video recordings. The band has also launched its own label, Blackened Recordings.
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