Today marks a very special day for Billie Eilish: the first anniversary of her third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. The album received widespread acclaim from fans and critics alike, earning two Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. Commercially, Hit Me Hard and Soft debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, moving 339,000 units in its first week—one of the biggest opening weeks of the 2020s in the U.S. Globally, the album topped charts in 26 countries and closed out 2024 as the second best-selling album of the year, behind only Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.
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Carried by the massive success of “Birds of a Feather” (2.5 billion streams), along with hit singles like “Chihiro” (820 million) and “Wildflower” (1.1 billion), Hit Me Hard and Soft amassed over 7 billion streams on Spotify in its first year. But how much did Billie Eilish actually earn from these streams?
There are several factors that determine the total payout, but Spotify pays artists an average of $0.004 per stream. Based on that rate, the album’s 7 billion streams would translate to approximately $28,694,326 in total revenue.
Of course, not all of that goes directly to Billie Eilish. The album was released through Interscope Records, and while exact contract terms are unknown, major labels typically take between 50% and 90% of an artist’s earnings. However, it’s important to note that Billie and her brother Finneas wrote and produced every track on the album, meaning they retain all songwriting and production royalties.
If we estimate that Billie and Finneas together keep 15% to 25% of the total streaming revenue, their earnings from Hit Me Hard and Soft on Spotify alone would range between $4.3 million and $7.17 million—just one year after the album’s release.
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