The most popular song in the world is unexpected, to say the least

It’s a big hit after all!

The most popular song of all time doesn’t belong to Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, or even The Beatles. That honor goes to a bunch of animatronic children who have been repeating the same tune for half a century. The Disneyland classic “It’s A Small World” has been played more than any song in history on the radio.

That info comes courtesy of the folks over at This Exists. After discovering that “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia had been played over 75 times a day on Australian radio for over a decade, they started wondering; what’s the most frequently played song in the world? Some of the runner ups weren’t that surprising. “Yesterday” by the Beatles has been broadcast over seven million times since its release. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

“You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” by the Righteous Brothers has been played an incredible 8 million times. But none of those even come close to “It’s A Small World” which has been played an absolutely insane 50 million times since the ride first opened in 1966. (And we bet that number would be tripled if you could count people who got the song stuck in their head for days!)

A theme park ride producing the most popular song of all time does seem a little surprising, until you learn a little more about its history. “It’s A Small World” was penned by The Sherman Brothers, a song writing duo responsible for some of Disney’s most enduring classics. If you sang along to The Jungle Book, Winnie The Pooh, or Mary Poppins as a kid, then you were a Sherman Brothers fan, even if you didn’t realize it. We’re totally cool with the most popular song of all time going to two guys who gave us some of our favorite childhood memories.