Despacito is now the most streamed song ever

It was considered the song of the summer long before the northern hemisphere had even heated up, and now Puerto Rican reggaeton hit Despacito has been streamed more times than any other song.The infectious hit, which was originally released by Luis Fonsi and rapper Daddy Yankee, has clocked 4.6 billion streams across Spotify and other music services.

 At 3 minutes and 47 seconds long, mankind has spent almost 300 million collective years listening to the dancefloor filler, which calls for romance pursued despacito ("slowly" in Spanish). 

 The single overtook Justin Bieber's Sorry and its affiliated remixes, but the Canadian artist shouldn't be disappointed.His remix of Despacito, featuring his rendition of the Spanish vocals has topped charts ub the UK, USA and Europe. 

 Ed Sheeran, however, may be less impressed. His summer hit, Shape of You, remains only the third most streamed song internationally, in spite of securing its place as the most streamed song in the UK earlier this month.Despacito is also the fastest ever song to reach 2 billion YouTube views, doing so in just 154 days. At this rate it will likely become the most viewed video ever on the platform.Fonsi, who has a forthcoming album, talked of the "honor" of getting his song streamed to record-breaking levels, and his label, Universal, highlighted the role of the medium in popularising artists and genres from outside the English-speaking world which would otherwise go unheard.

In the meantime, you can guarantee hearing the lilting refrain of Despacito for some weeks yet.