The song is the latest to join the elite club
Legendary heavy metal band Black Sabbath is the latest to join Spotify’s Billions Club with their 1970 hit “Paranoid” surpassing one billion streams. In a milestone for the band, the iconic single joins only 581 tracks admitted to Spotify’s Billions Club.
Regarded as one of the most influential heavy metal songs of all time, “Paranoid” peaked at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Padding the runtime of their iconic 1970 Paranoid album, the hit was written in the studio “in five minutes” according to Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler. Speaking to Guitar World in 2004 on the creation of the track, Butler said, “The song ‘Paranoid’ was written as an afterthought. We basically needed a three-minute filler for the album, and Tony came up with the riff. I quickly did the lyrics, and Ozzy (Osbourne) was reading them as he was singing.”
With a discography spanning over 40 years, Black Sabbath is one of the most influential heavy metal bands of all time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have sold over 75 million records, including over 24 platinum albums in the UK alone and over 15 million albums in the US.
