This Journey classic was just named 'the biggest song of all time'

Journey ’s massive anthem "Don’t Stop Believin'” has officially gone 18x times platinum, and was named the top biggest song of all time.

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As of January 2024, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) quietly certified Journey ’s 1981 single “Don’t Stop Believin’” as 18 times platinum . This means the song has sold a certified equivalent of 18 million units, via both physical copies and digital streaming, across its 42 year history. And, mind you, this is a United States ranking - meaning that the worldwide sales are even greater. Thus, Forbes Magazine has officially given "Don’t Stop Believin’” the title of the Biggest Song Of All Time.

This 18x platinum certification, which is now tied with Post Malone ’s “Sunflower,” was the first time the RIAA had promoted “Don’t Stop Believin’” since 2013. And the single wasn’t even Journey’s most popular song at the time of its release. Other hits like “Open Arms” and “Who’s Crying Now” outranked the song on Billboard charts . Regardless, “Don’t Stop Believin’” has become an anthem for both Journey and the entire world.

“We didn’t know it yet, but we had just written an anthem that would stand the test of time,” Journey's Jonathan Cain recalled in his autobiography , aptly named after the single. As a keyboard player and songwriter, Cain joined Journey in 1980 after his original group, The Babys , disbanded. He and singer Steve Perry were looking for inspiration, and turned to his old notebook. “On the last page of my notebook, I found three words scribbled: 'Don’t stop believin'" Cain wrote. “I knew Steve would like the title – the words my father had given me on a long-distance phone call one night.” Soon, the bandmates went from writing about two characters running away from home to writing about themselves, and how they were, “sacrificing it all to gamble on a dream.”

Lead singer and co-writer Perry recalls that songwriting session as a “rabid” attempt to give fans the rock-and-roll music they loved. But at the song’s National Recording Registry induction , even he couldn’t deny the anthem’s unrelenting power. “Every one of the songs that we ever recorded were treated like they were special,” he said in the interview. “But that song, over the years, has become something that has a life of its own. It’s about the people who’ve embraced it and found the lyrics to be something they can relate to and hold on to and sing.”

Congratulations to Journey! May your song play on, and on, and on, and on ….
To hear “Don’t Stop Believin’' and other hits from the band, check out Journey Radio anytime and anywhere on the free Audacy app.