These songs have been streamed billions of times. Is there more to say?

Music & Numbers is an independent editorial project analyzing contemporary pop music through culture. It starts from a simple, sometimes contrarian idea: begin with the numbers — real streams, mass popularity — to do music criticism that's serious, curious, and accessible.

Traditional criticism tends to dismiss what's widely heard. Music & Numbers flips that: if a song crossed a billion streams on Spotify, it touched something human. It's worth understanding what, why, and how.