In the world of video games, soundtracks have always played a big role. Fans can often recognise 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 calculated 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 recognised 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-highest-earning-gaming-songs/
