Canada Day is this weekend, and if you’re looking for some ultra-Canadian content to include on your barbecue playlist, the JUNO Awards has helpfully compiled a list of the top-selling Canadian singles of all time.
The Junos broke the list down into three categories: physical sales, digital sales and streams. This, naturally, separates the songs by era — all of the most-streamed singles come from a three year window of 2019–2021, while the top-selling digital singles all come from the same decade (the 2010s). The best-selling physical singles, on the other hand, span from the ’50s to the ’90s.
The JUNOS only notes three songs in each category, but it’s still an interested reflection which of our country’s music is the most commercially successful. Interestingly, several of the songs are collaborations with non-Canadian artists.
Physical Sales:
1. Céline Dion – “My Heart Will Go On” (1997): 18 million sales
2. Bryan Adams – “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”: 15 million sales
3. Paul Anka – “Diana” (1957): 10 million sales
Digital Sales:
1. Rihanna feat. Drake – “Work” (2016): 32.5 million sales
2. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe” (2011): 18 million sales
3. Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello – “Senorita” (2019): 16.1 million sales
Streams:
1. The Weeknd – “Blinding Lights” (2019): 5.31 billion streams
2. The Weeknd – “Save Your Tears” (2020): 4.6 billion streams
3. The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber – “Stay” (2021): 3.81 billion streams
