Here Comes the Sun has been making people feel better since 1969 — and this spring, it’s officially been crowned the season’s defining song. For fans of classic music legends like Phil Collins, who share that same timeless staying power, it comes as no surprise that a Beatles track is still ruling the charts more than five decades later. Parade’s ranking of the best spring songs of all time placed the George Harrison-penned Abbey Road gem at the very top — and with over 1.5 billion Spotify streams, the numbers back it up entirely.
The Story Behind the Song That Defined a Season
GettyGeorge Harrison wrote Here Comes the Sun in the garden of his friend Eric Clapton’s Surrey home in early 1969 — playing truant from a business meeting at the Beatles’ Apple Corps headquarters to spend a warm spring morning with a guitar.
As Harrison later explained, winter in England felt endless that year, and the relief of stepping outside into the sun inspired every word. Clapton, who was present that morning, recalled watching the song come to life almost effortlessly: he described Harrison as a magical person who would simply show up with his guitar and let the music flow.
The track landed as the opening song on side two of Abbey Road and has never really left the public consciousness since.
The Song That Almost Traveled to the Stars
GettyHere Comes the Sun came remarkably close to leaving Earth entirely.
Astronomer Carl Sagan proposed the track for NASA’s Voyager Golden Record in 1977 — a collection of music and sounds sent into deep space to represent humanity. The Beatles agreed to the inclusion, but Apple Records was unable to finalize the licensing agreement before the spacecraft’s launch deadline, and the song was left off. It remains one of music history’s most extraordinary near-misses.
Why It Still Tops Every Playlist in 2026
What makes Here Comes the Sun remarkable is how it has aged in reverse. It became the first Beatles song to surpass one billion Spotify streams in May 2023 — the first song from the 1960s to ever hit that milestone — and has since climbed past 1.5 billion plays.
Music critics have credited its enduring appeal to its simplicity, its optimism, and the way it connects with each new generation discovering the Beatles for the first time. It has also become a fixture on some of the most high-profile playlists in the world — even King Charles included classic tracks with similar emotional weight in his personal Apple Music playlist earlier this year.
The Beatles’ Abbey Road closer is the song people reach for when the cold finally breaks — and with the Spring Equinox landing today, March 20, it is perfectly timed all over again.
