Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Journey? Really? Them?

Who's crying now? Not these guys.

According to The Guardian, the 1981 Journey song Don't Stop Believin' is the most downloaded track, and the first digital download to hit 2 million purchases on iTunes.

Journey? iTunes sold $2 million worth of Don't Stop Believin'? Really?

The Guardian article indicates that a spike in downloads occurred after the song was featured in the last episode of The Sopranos. I'm not sure I buy this-- I would guess that most people watching The Sopranos would have heard this song before-- I don't know, maybe like 4,249,394 times before?

Of course, we'll never know the song that was truly downloaded the most; Don't Stop Beleivin' is simply the song most downloaded and paid for. Back in the Napster-era lawlessness of the early 2000's (when you could have had it any way you want it), I'm sure there were songs that far surpassed 2 million downloads (though we probably don't want to know or remember what they were).

Congrats Journey, but I'll be alright without you.