JOURNEY's 'Don't Stop Believin'' Hits 1 Billion Streams On SPOTIFY

JOURNEY's classic song "Don't Stop Believin'" has reached 1 billion listens on Spotify.

JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon commemorated the milestone by posting a screenshot of the band's Spotify page, and he included the following message: "Wow!!! Thank you Fans!! We are Over 1 Billion Streams on Spotify Don't stop BelievinQUEEN is the ONLY other band at this point. Congratulations guys".

He added in a separate tweet: "JOURNEY and QUEEN the Only 2 Bands Ever to Attain more then 1 Billion Streams individually for 'Dont stop Believin' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Cheers Friends".

In a 2009 interview with CBC's "Q" cultural affairs show, former JOURNEY singer Steve Perry said he always thought "Don't Stop Believin'" — which is also the top-selling digital download of a track not originally released in this century, according to Nielsen SoundScan — had potential as a single. It was always a hit with live audiences, though it didn't get great radio play at the time it was issued, he said.

"When we were doing the song in 1981, I knew something was happening, but honestly, when I saw it in the film 'Monster' with Patty Jenkins, I started think, 'Oh my goodness there's really something.'"

He added: "The lyric is a strong lyric about not giving up, but it's also about being young, it's also about hanging out, not giving up and looking for that emotion hiding somewhere in the dark that we're all looking for. It's about having hope and not quitting when things get tough, because I'm telling you things get tough for everybody."

Current JOURNEY singer Arnel Pineda, who has been fronting the band for 14 years, told CBS News in 2012, "Even before I discovered 'Don't Stop Believin'', it has been my motto — you know, to never stop believing in myself. The life that I've gone through, all those hardships, I never stopped believing that someday there is something magical that will happen in my life."

Last year, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, "Don't Stop Believin'" had become a rallying call for patients recovering from COVID-19 at two hospitals in New York and Michigan. The 1981 hit was being played at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan and the New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital during celebrations for patients prevailing over the coronavirus.