A decade after its quiet release, The Night We Met by Lord Huron has become one of the most streamed songs in the world outpacing some of the biggest pop singles of 2024.
Released in 2015 as the final track on Strange Trails, the melancholic ballad didn’t chart high or make major headlines. Today, it has crossed three billion plays on Spotify, and another three billion views on TikTok, according to data from Chartmetric. The track outperformed Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ‘Em, Dua Lipa’s Houdini, and even Taylor Swift’s most-played songs last year.
“It’s unbelievable,” Lord Huron frontman Ben Schneider said in response to the song’s endurance. “I remember writing it and thinking it was a fitting way to end the record. It was never a hit. Years went by, and then it just… started to move.”
The track gained traction in 2017 after appearing in the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. Initially hesitant about licensing the song for the show, Schneider changed his mind after encouragement from his wife. That decision sparked a trajectory that would eventually bring the song to global prominence.
“We were in France at the time,” Schneider recalled. “When we got back, my manager told me something was happening. I figured it would spike and disappear but instead, it kept climbing.”
In 2024 alone, The Night We Met drew nearly a billion new streams, up 57% from the previous year. Its emotional lyrics “I had all and then most of you / Some and now none of you” struck a chord with listeners who have adapted the song into everything from breakup montages to pregnancy reveals.
Schneider believes the song resonates because it offers space for personal interpretation. “People can see their own lives in it. It’s a vessel that fits different stories.”
He later recorded a duet version with Phoebe Bridgers for a follow-up scene in the same Netflix series. But its long-term popularity has been largely driven by social media. On TikTok, the song has become part of thousands of videos, ranging in theme from grief and nostalgia to celebration.
Despite the viral success, Lord Huron isn’t defined by the single track. The band, originally a solo project started by Schneider in 2010, has produced four albums and is set to release a fifth: The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1. The new concept album explores alternate realities and the randomness of life through the metaphor of a jukebox with misaligned controls. Actress Kristen Stewart voices a character in the narrative-driven project.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about the randomness of life,” Schneider said. “How things could’ve turned out differently if just one small choice had gone another way.”
One of those choices, he admits, was agreeing to let Netflix feature The Night We Met. That decision became a defining moment, turning a slow-burning ballad into a global anthem.
Though The Night We Met now dwarfs Lord Huron’s other songs in streams, Schneider doesn’t feel boxed in by its success. “We already had a loyal audience. That gave us space to be more than a one-hit story.”
As The Cosmic Selector lands, Schneider hopes new music will connect just as deeply. “I want to keep moving forward,” he said. “And I believe more of our songs will have their moment.”
Ten years later, the quiet closer to Strange Trails has become the soundtrack of countless lives and it shows no signs of fading.
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