Stranger Things star and musician Joe Keery, artistically known as Djo, just claimed the top position on Spotify Global. This astonishing achievement comes after the release of the Netflix show, in which Djo stars.
End of Beginning just reached #1 on Spotify’s U. S. lists, gaining more than 9.3 million streams in just one day. Djo’s song is such a hit it also achieved the top spot on the musical platform’s global list. By doing this, he set back some of the most popular tunes and artists of the moment. Taylor Swift was dominating lists for more than two months with her The Fate of Ophelia until Djo interrupted at the top.
We can think of several reasons why the hit song went up the charts in recent days. The fifth and final season of the successful Netflix show was just launched. This event made fans on social media reintroduce Djo’s song, flooding apps like TikTok and Instagram of videos featuring the tune.
Moreover, people are listening to End of Beginning on repeat all day, making it gain many online streams. All of these reasons may be some of the causes Keery leads the music panorama today.
A Return to the Top
End of Beginning is clearly one of the most viral and streamed songs in these last few years. However, the hit has been out for some time now, as it was not an immediate hit on its launch date. Djo released his track back on September 16, 2022, as part of his second studio album Decide.
At first it did not stand out much, as it neither was one of the main singles of the disc. Furthermore, it did not enter any of the musical lists, while being greatly received by indie and Djo’s fans.
At the end of 2023, and more than a year since its release, the song started to discreetly appear on social media. Unexpectedly and without any direct intervention from Joe’s team, it soon became one of the most popular sounds on TikTok. Its relatable lyrics about saying goodbye, the end-of-life stages, and emotionally charged memories, contributed to its favorable outcome.
“And when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it” – End of Beginning
In an interview on the Zach Sang Show, Joe talked about the creation process of the song and its later success. “The fact that that song also did what it did is kind of a fluke. I mean, obviously people connected with it, but so many different weird circumstances have to kind of align for that sort of stuff to happen”.
Djo continues explaining how he felt when it went viral. “It’s not something you can plan, and then when it does, it’s kind of like ‘Whoa’. It’s not really due to much of what I’ve done. I put the same amount of work into other songs as that song. That one just happened to be at that moment where a bunch of people took it and put it in this TikTok or put it in this thing, and then all of a sudden, you know”, said Keery on the Zach Sang Show.
“You take the man out of the city, not the city out of the man” – End of Beginning
The song treats the time where Joe Keery lived in Chicago and the band he formed as a guitarist and drummer, called Post Animal. Furthermore, the song gives a nostalgic view, since it talks about when he moved away. Djo had to leave the city that welcomed him in 2015 due to the appearance of an actor role that would change his life.
From Illinois to California, the young indie artist was part of one of the most popular series nowadays, Stranger Things. Thanks to his charisma and great acting, his character Steve Harrington became one of the fan favorites until the very last episode.
