The ‘Euphoria’ Effect: How An Elite Musical Landscape Is Causing A Streaming Boom

TV show Euphoria has taken the world by storm, becoming one of the most popular shows of its generation. It has a unique knack and ability to deeply reflect the instincts, emotions, and trauma of its characters, extrapolating regular moments of adolescent years to the extreme.

The show has its finger on the pulse of the crews obsession with music, and its omnipresence in critical life moments. Labrynth’s original score and songs became some of the most buzzed albums of last year off the back of its appearance. Euphoria features one of the TV’s most eclectic soundtracks, with some episodes incorporating over 20 tracks, from the likes of Megan Thee Stallion to Randy Newman. The tracks all capture the relative angst of each character, reflecting their deepest of emotions.

It takes an ambitious curator to create a soundtrack so vast, and in an interview with Vanity Fair, Music Supervisor Jen Malone stated, "Only bangers will do."

“Whether it’s the hip hop, whether it’s Depeche Mode or INXS or whether it’s Billy Swan or Isaac Hayes or Laura Les — even when we do a popular artist, a contemporary artist, it’s just very special,” she stated in the interview.

“And it’s one of the best parts of the job, aside from being a part of a show where music is so important. There’s been a lot of chatter about how, “They’d never be listening to this!” And it’s like, well, that’s too bad.”

“They hopefully will now start playing it because it’s fucking bangers, and there’s nothing out there now that can compare. I think we can all agree on that.”

Off the back of the incredible curation, streaming numbers of some of the songs featured have skyrocketed. Streams of the official Euphoria soundtrack have risen by 265% since the season two premiere on January 9 until the week before the season finale.

There are currently over 600,000 Euphoria-themed playlists currently on Spotify, with a staggering increase of 234% of listeners for Euphoria’s leading composer Labrinth. The biggest increase was seen towards Sinéad O’Connor’s Drink Before The War, which saw a staggering 26,900% increase in streams after it featured in episode five of season two.

Other tracks which saw similar spikes include Madonna by Tarik (~2,600% increase) 4,5,6 by Big Mali (~3,600% increase) and Uhuh Yeah by Colbie and G.L.A.M. (~2,700% increase).