Gaming soundtracks – These songs brought in the most cash!

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Gaming soundtracks – These songs brought in the most cash!

Minecraft's song 'Sweden' by C418 gets first spot, with over 102 million Spotify streams and estimated earnings of over $408k
The Zelda theme, as well as the Super Mario theme surprisingly share the last two ranks
In the world of video games, soundtracks have always played a big role. Fans can often recognize a game without even seeing it on the screen and well-known songs like the Zelda Theme Song have been sampled in numerous new versions, such as deadmau5's 'You need a ladder'.

With some of the songs in games being that iconic, they'll inevitably be listened to on streaming platforms like Spotify. E-commerce retailer Ebuyer has curated a list of the most famous songs found in video games and calculated1 the earnings based on the number of streams.

Rank

Game

Artist

Song

Streams

Estimated earnings

1

Minecraft

C418

Sweden

102,231,172

$408,924.69

2

Doom

Mick Gordon

Rip & Tear

63,644,520

$254,578.08

3

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Treyarch Sound, Brian Tuey, James McCawley, Kevin Sherwood

115

54,911,005

$219,644.02

4

The Last of Us

Gustavo Santaolalla, Alan Umstead

The Choice

41,851,879

$167,407.52

5

Grand Theft Auto V

The Chain Gang of 1974

Sleepwalking

39,088,659

$156,354.64

6

Assassin's Creed 2

Jesper Kyd

Ezio's Family

35,383,893

$141,535.57

7

Tony Hawk

Sex Pistols

Anarchy in the UK

33,720,634

$134,882.54

8

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Jeremy Soule

Dragonborn

31,422,280

$125,689.12

9

God of War

Bear McCreary

God of War

29,708,710

$118,834.84

10

Skyrim

Jeremy Soule

Secunda

25,526,507

$102,106.03

11

Halo: Combat Evolved

Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori

Halo

24,779,013

$99,116.05

12

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Marcin Przybylowicz

Geralt of Rivia

23,743,726

$94,974.90

13

Mass Effect 3

Clint Mansell

Leaving Earth

20,363,894

$81,455.58

14

Mass Effect

Jack Wall

Vigil

18,035,247

$72,140.99

15

Halo 3

Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori

Never Forget

17,281,695

$69,126.78

16

Death Stranding: Timefall

Bring me the horizon

Ludens

32,667,388*

$57,167.93

17

Battlefield

Johan Süderqvist

Battlefield One

7,484,536

$29,938.14

18

Tetris

Hirokazu Tanaka

Tetris Theme

5,464,504

$21,858.02

19

Halo 2

Breaking Benjamin

Blow Me Away

9,670,446*

$16,923.28

20

The Legend of Zelda

Koji Kondo

Zelda Theme Song

9,140,648*

$15,996.13

21

Super Mario

Koji Kondo

Super Mario Theme

1,493,518

$5,974.07


The highest-earning songs

Released in 2011, C418's song 'Sweden' is featured in Minecraft and has accumulated a whopping 102,231,172 streams with estimated earnings of $408,924.69. The metal song 'Rip & Tear' by Mick Gordon, which players listen to in Doom conquers the second rank with estimated earnings of $254,578.08 – that's nearly 50% less than the song Sweden! The first-person shooter game Call of Duty: Black Ops also provided us with a top hit, Treychard Sound's '115' was listened to 54,911,005 times and earned $219,644.02, landing the song on third spot.

Surprisingly low earners

Some of the most memorable theme songs from older games generate surprisingly few streams today.

The Zelda Theme song's catchy melody is embedded into the memories of many people playing video games in the late 90s, but the song was only streamed 9,140,648 times on Spotify, leading to earnings of $15,996.13 and on the 20th rank. And to close the ranking off Super Mario's theme by Koji Kondo only has 1,493,518 streams – just a fraction of other songs on the list!

Courtney Williamson, Marketing Manager at Ebuyer comments: "Songs may be produced specifically for a game or are famous for featuring in a popular game, which then results in artists earning more – a win-win for everyone! Some themes are so memorable they can be easily recognized by a whole generation."

To find out more about Ebuyer and the highest-earning gaming songs, please visit: https://www.ebuyer.com/blog/2022/06/the ... ing-songs/