🚨 SHOCKING CHART TAKEOVER: A Stranger Things Star Just KNOCKED Taylor Swift OFF the #1 Spot on Spotify – And Fans Are Losing It! 👑🔥
Right after the emotional Stranger Things finale hit Netflix on New Year’s Eve… one of the cast members’ old song EXPLODED back to life. We’re talking millions of streams in days, dethroning Taylor Swift’s massive hit “The Fate of Ophelia” (which had ruled the global charts for 78 straight days!) and claiming the top spot on Spotify’s Global Daily Chart.
This isn’t some new track—it’s a 2022 banger from the actor’s secret side project (under a mysterious alias) that went mega-viral before, but the finale sent it straight to #1 again. Steve Harrington-level heroics on screen… and now music domination off it?
Swifties in shambles, Hawkins fans celebrating—did the Upside Down energy just flip the music world upside down too? Who’s streaming this non-stop right now?
Read more:
It’s no secret that Taylor Swift is the reigning queen of pop, and her song “The Fate Of Ophelia” was at the top of Spotify’s global charts for a whopping 78 straight days. Recently, she was finally dethroned, and by the last person you’d expect…someone whose fans mostly don’t even know has a musical career. After the series finale aired, the song “End of the Beginning” by Stranger Things star Joe Keery is now the top song on Spotify.
Even his most diehard fans are unlikely to know that Keery is a musician, and there’s a simple reason for that. Rather than perform songs under his own name (like fellow Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard did for his solo album), Keery goes by the name “Djo” for his musical career. While his song “End of the Beginning” had previously enjoyed viral fame, it was the New Year’s Eve release of Stranger Things’ final episode that sent this song to the top of the Spotify charts, effectively snatching the musical crown from Taylor Swift.
Steve Harrington Sings
Interestingly, even though Keery released a new album in, The Crux, in April of 2025, “End of the Beginning” is a much older song. It’s a synth pop song (fitting for a Stranger Things star whose show helped reignite a global love of all things synthwave) that came out back in 2022. In my always humble opinion, the song’s popularity is well-earned…Keery has a surprisingly great voice, the lyrics are thoughtful, and the refrain is likely to stick in your head for days, if not weeks.
“End of the Beginning” was already building steam in 2024 once it started trending on TikTok. It continued to build in popularity on Spotify thanks to the release of Stranger Things Season 5 at the tail end of 2025. Eventually, it reached a whopping 6.5 million streams, which was enough to finally remove Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” from the coveted top of the global charts on Spotify.
The Man Who Impressed Taylor Swift
Speaking of Swift, it turns out that she was already a fan of the song that would ultimately dethrone her on the popular music streaming service. When Joe Keery appeared on The Spout podcast, he mentioned that he ran into Swift at the recording studio, and she casually told him, “‘Hey, I really love that track of yours, ‘End Of Beginning.’” Rather than simply thanking her, Keery was immediately incredulous: “You heard that song?” he asked, “How the hell did you hear that song?”
It turns out that Swift was just trying to find something new to listen to, and “somehow it came across her desk.” She took the time to praise Keery’s work, and the Stranger Things star was quite grateful for her kind words. “Really, really nice of her,” Keery gushed.
Joe Keery’s “End of Beginning” hit the top of the Spotify global charts on January 1, and as of this writing, it’s still there. Only time will tell how long it stays there or whether any of his more recent songs will similarly become viral hits on platforms like Spotify. However, the Stranger Things icon can now brag about something that none of his other castmates can: at the beginning of 2026, he was both one of the most popular actors and one of the most popular musicians in the entire world.
