Luis Fonsi's Despacito sets new record as the most streamed song worldwide

Despacito. Not many of you will have even heard of the word before 2017, and now Luis Fonsi's track of the same name is officially the most streamed song ever worldwide.

Across all major streaming platforms, the original version (Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee) and the Spanglish remix (featuring Justin Bieber) have a combined streams tally of 4.6 billion plays, surpassing the previous record 4.38 billion record set by Justin Bieber. 

Of the 4.36 billion streamed accumulated, 93 million of those have been logged here in the UK. Meanwhile, the song has been downloaded a further 422,000 times in the United Kingdom. It's currently the UK's third biggest song of the year, according to Official Charts Company data.

Luis Fonsi is, of course, on all versions of the track, which originally hit Number 1 across Latin America in January - well before Justin Bieber heard the song in a club and asked to put his own stamp on it. It's fair to say the song had major appeal without the megastar Canadian, as the original version's official video has amassed 2.6 billion views worldwide on YouTube.

MORE: The Official Top 40 biggest songs of 2017 so far

Luis Fonsi said in a statement: "Streaming is a connector for audiences worldwide and it has helped my music reach every corner of the planet. It is truly an honor that Despacito is now the most streamed song in history."

He was then asked by the BBC if he thinks he can replicate its success: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I don't want to be a pessimist about it. I don't want to be negative about it. But my next song, I can't approach it thinking, 'How do I beat Despacito?'

"Do you really expect to win the lottery twice? We just have to be grateful for what we've done and go forward."

Despacito has spent nine non-consecutive weeks at Number 1 here in the UK, becoming only the 20th song to achieve that length at the top of the Official Singles Chart. It is also the longest reigning foreign language Number 1 hit.

MORE: Justin Bieber's Purpose Tour ranks in the world's highest grossing of 2017 so far