50 Cent’s “In Da Club” is one of the biggest hits in the history of modern music, and here’s yet another stat to prove it: The Queens rapper’s 2003 smash has surpassed 2 billion streams on Spotify, a feat accomplished by fewer than 300 songs all time.
Upon its release in the earliest days of 2003, “In Da Club” became an instant crossover sensation, topping various Billboard pop and rap charts and spending nine weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 on its way to era-defining status. It has since been certified Diamond by the RIAA. Beyond its commercial success, “In Da Club” maintains widespread critical respect, with numerous publications listing it as one of the greatest songs of all time.
Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo produced the irresistibly propulsive beat that became “In Da Club,” first offering it to Eminem’s group D12 and NYC rap veteran Rakim before it ended up in 50 Cent’s hands. At the urging of Eminem, who signed 50 Cent to his Shady Records imprint, the song became the lead single from 50’s debut studio album Get Rich or Die Tryin’. The overwhelming success of “In Da Club” propelled the album to chart-topping success in its own right and kicking off a streak of hits that established the artist born Curtis Jackson as the definitive popular music figures of his era.
To wit, though “In Da Club” is 50 Cent’s first track to crack 2 billion streams, he has three more songs in the Spotify Billions Club, denoting more than 1 billion streams. Those songs—“Candy Shop,” “P.I.M.P.,” and his collaboration with the Game, “Hate It Or Love It”—joined “In Da Club” as ubiquitous fixtures of pop culture in the 2000s, and the numbers show that their popularity has endured more than two decades later.
