Bring Me the Horizon is having a week of celebrations (Picture: Gina Wetzler/Redferns)
Bring Me the Horizon is officially the most streamed rock band in the world right now according to new figures from Spotify.
The heavy metal group fronted by Oli Sykes, formed in Sheffield in 2004, surprise-dropped their seventh full studio album, titled Post Human: Nex Gen, last week.
Nex Gen had been promised to fans since as early as 2020 when the four-piece released mini-album Post Human: Survival Horror, the first of a planned series of ‘Post Human’ records.
But after promotional single Die4u was released in 2021, Nex Gen was hit with severe delays before long-time keyboardist and programmer Jordan Fish unexpectedly left the group in 2023.
With the production turmoil now behind them, Bring Me the Horizon look as if they’re going to spend the weekend celebrating if latest figures from Spotify are anything to go by.
At 16 tracks and 55 minutes, Nex Gen is the longest album in the band’s history, but that hasn’t stopped fans streaming the album up to 70 million times this week.
Nex Gen had been delayed significantly over the last two years (Picture: Scott Legato/Getty Images)
This has made Bring Me the Horizon the most streamed rock or metal act in the world at the moment, with Nex Gen expected to repeat the commercial success of 2015 album That’s the Spirit and 2019’s Amo.
Streaming data aggregator site Kworb has estimated that Nex Gen is currently the third most popular album in countries such as the UK, Australia, and Finland, sitting only behind pop stars Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift.
While in America, it sits inside the top 20, leading the way for rock acts on the chart, finding itself one place above Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.
The band was formed in Sheffield in 2004, releasing their first EP – This is What the Edge of Your Seat Was Made For – just a few months later.
After the release of their debut album, 2006’s Count Your Blessings, they made considerable changes to their sound for second album Suicide Season in 2008.
Bring Me the Horizon formed in Sheffield in 2004 (Picture: Getty)
Will the band be heading for another number one album? (Picture: Javier Bragado/WireImage)
Following numerous line-up changes and stylistic transitions across their next two albums, 2010’s There is a Hell… and 2013’s Sempiternal, the band’s following grew significantly.
It took until the release of Sempiternal for Bring Me the Horizon to break into the top 10 of the UK album chart, while 2014 single Drown was their first entry to the top 20 in the singles chart.
That’s the Spirit later reached number two in the UK album chart in 2015 and was eventually certified Platinum.
The band have changed rather a lot over the years…(Credits: Redferns)
Bring Me the Horizon attracted controversy a year later at the NME Awards as lead vocalist Oli Sykes trashed Coldplay’s table during a live performance.
Amo gave the band their first UK number one album in 2019 and in 2020 they received their first Brit Award nomination, eventually winning best rock act in 2024.
While Bring Me the Horizon has primarily been a heavy metal band since their inception, they are also known for incorporating electronic, dance, and pop into their music.
Over the years they have also featured guest stars from several genres, including rappers Yungblud and Lil Uzi Vert, Josh Franceschi of You Me at Six, and electropop singer Lights.
At the Brit Awards in 2022, Oli joined Ed Sheeran on stage to perform a heavy metal remix of his smash hit Bad Habits, which was later released as a standalone single.
Before joining Bring Me the Horizon, Oli went to the same high school as all four members of Arctic Monkeys – although Alex Turner was in the year above Oli at the time.
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