Congratulations to Roxette on ‘It Must Have Been Love’ reaching over One Billion Streams on Spotify! The song has had quite the journey, from Christmas to Hollywood, to Pop Ballad Royalty.
‘It Must Have Been Love’ has officially passed 1,000,000,000 streams on Spotify!
For a song that began life in Sweden 1987, as a mere Christmas single, that is something quite extraordinary.
Written by Per Gessle and with Marie Fredriksson on lead vocals, the track first appeared as ‘It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)‘.
It reached the Top 5 in Sweden at the time, complete with its seasonal lyric. The original intent was to re-release it every Christmas.
Few could have predicted that only a few years later, with only a slight lyrical adjustment and removal of its festive references, it would become one of the defining power ballads of its era.
PRETTY WOMAN, 1990
(do you remember this closing monologue?)
♥
In 1990, the reworked version featured on the movie soundtrack to ‘Pretty Woman‘.
“Christmas Day” simply became “Winter’s day,” and suddenly Roxette were sitting at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for the third time.
The single reached No. 1 in the US on 16 June 1990 and remained there for two weeks. It also topped the charts in Australia, Canada and Norway, cementing its place in worldwide pop history.
Its Radio impact has been equally remarkable. American Radio has played the song more than 7 million times!
Per received BMI Million Air Awards marking 3 million US plays in 2000, 4 million in 2005, 5 million in 2014, 6 million in October 2021, and most recently the 7 million milestone in 2024. Earlier this year, ‘Listen To Your Heart‘ celebrated its own 7 Million Air award.
Now ‘It Must Have Been Love‘ is adding the Spotify Billion Stream Award to its long list of honours.
Reaching 1,000,000,000 streams confirms what fans have known for decades. This is not simply a hit single from the late 80s/early 90s. It’s a standard, Pop Ballad Royalty. A song that moved seamlessly from vinyl to CD to digital download to streaming playlists, without losing any of its emotional impact.
More than three decades have passed since its original release, yet Marie’s vocal still carries the same quiet power. The production still sounds timeless. And the lyrics still land.
From ‘Christmas for the Broken Hearted‘ to One Billion Streams worldwide, it is one of the most remarkable journeys in the Roxette catalogue.
Congratulations, Per for writing such a timeless classic.
And Marie ♥ your voice never fades and continues to reach new ears every single day.
03 It Must Have Been Love (Soundtrack Album Version / LP Version)
04 It Must Have Been Love (Live from Santiago 1992)
05 It Must Have Been Love (LA Version 1992)
06 No Se Si Es Amor / ‘I Don’t Know if its Love‘ (Baladas en Español 1996)
07 It Must Have Been Love (Gessle Over Europe 2009)
08 It Must Have Been Love (Live St.Petersburg 2010)
09 It Must Have Been Love (Live Night of the Proms, Rotterdam 2011)
10 It Must Have Been Love (Live from Santiago 2012)
11 It Must Have Been Love (Symphonic Version 2018)
12 It Must Have Been Love (A Tribute to Marie Fredriksson 2020 – Live) by Per Gessle + Agnes
13 It Must Have Been Love (CFTBH) [T&A Demo – Apr 14, 1987] – In Conversation with Sven Lindström
– It Must Have Been Love (Single Version / Edit)
– It Must Have Been Love (MTV Unplugged 1993)
– It Must Have Been Love (Instrumental)
We’re not aware of any official remixes, or any other official versions of the first iteration of ‘IMHBL’ missing, other than various (rare) live performances from, for example, the ‘Look Sharp!‘ Tour where Marie often performed the song solo, on piano.
Previous ROX40 Countdown Articles for It Must Have Been Love
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