“Aerials” has become System Of A Down‘s fourth song to pass a billion Spotify streams, and Toxicity‘s third.
Three quarters of System Of A Down‘s billion-stream catalogue now comes from a single album released 25 years ago.
“Aerials” has crossed one billion plays on Spotify, becoming the band’s fourth track to reach the platform’s Billions Club. It is also the third from Toxicity, joining “Chop Suey!” and the album’s title track.
The song closed out the Toxicity singles run as the third and final release from the record, and the Recording Industry Association of America certified it two-times platinum in the United States on July 19, 2022.
“Chop Suey!” remains far out in front. It became the band’s first song to pass a billion in April 2023 and has since cleared two billion. “Toxicity” sits at 1.6 billion.
The only entry from outside that album is “Lonely Day“, the closing single from 2005’s Hypnotize, which stands as System Of A Down‘s final studio album. The band has released no full-length record in the two decades since, putting out only the standalone 2020 singles “Protect The Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz“.
Toxicity arrived in September 2001, debuted at number one in the United States and Canada, and has been certified six-times platinum in America. Produced by Rick Rubin, it turned the band from a promising Los Angeles act into one of the biggest names in heavy music, and its streaming numbers suggest the audience has kept growing long after the band stopped making records.
Several other rock and metal anthems have reached the same threshold in recent months, among them AC/DC‘s “T.N.T.“, Ozzy Osbourne‘s “Crazy Train” and Led Zeppelin‘s “Immigrant Song“.
System Of A Down returned to the stage this year, opening 2026 at Sick New World in Las Vegas before a run of European stadium shows across Sweden, France, Italy, Germany, Poland and two nights at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. “Aerials” appeared fourth in the Las Vegas setlist.
