As you’re going on your phone to listen to your favorite Taylor Swift songs on Spotify, you notice that there is something off. There is something that has changed but, you can’t put your finger on it. As you look up the most listened to song on google, you are expecting to see your favorite Taylor Swift song, “The Fate of Ophelia”, but instead you see something that shocks you to your core. “End of Beginning” by Djo. You’re flabbergasted, and as Taylor Swift’s number one fan, you’re a little upset. So, in your high emotion state, you accidentally click on the music video right below the heart breaking news. You try your best to click off, but you’re so sad that you keep missing the right buttons, and before you know it, you’re on the chorus. You have no choice but to continue to listen to this foreign song, and you think you will hate it, but you end up really liking it. You have now discovered a new genre of music that you enjoy outside of just pop and Taylor Swift, and you enjoy this new genre of music for the rest of your day.
With that, “End of Beginning” by Djo has just become the most listened to song on January 2, 2026! DJO, whose real name is Joe Kerry, focuses on psychedelic rock and indie pop for his music productions. Now, the real question is, why did a psychedelic rock artist over take a globally famous pop artist on Spotify? To answer this question, there are a multitude of reasons, but the main three are Joe Kerry’s involvement in the globally famous “Stranger Things” series produced by the Duffer Brothers, the song’s overall catchy refrain, and the relatable lyric that a lot of people can relate to.
Firstly, Joe Kerry starred in the Duffer Brothers Production Stranger Things as the bully who turned nice, Steve Herrington. Now, this show gained global fame, and so did the actors. The fan base loved Joe Kerry, and when he started to produce music in 2019, they were ecstatic. However, none of his early songs really appealed to his audience, until his 2024 hit, “End of Beginning”. This song gained a boost of popularity as soon it was released, and after the release of “Stranger Things” season five in December of 2025, the song now had another jump up the musical ladder, landing on the number one most listened to song.
Next, the song has a very catchy refrain. A refrain is the part of the music that repeats over and over again, which is usually the chorus. If you look at every song to ever have been popular, the refrain is always catchy and repetitive. In any of your favorite artists’ hits, like Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia”, the refrain is catchy and repetitive. So, because of this reason, “End of Beginning” shot through the ranks faster than other songs that had good verses, but lacked a good, repeating part of the song.
Finally, the message of the song is going through life and all of its transitions, which is very relatable. Everybody, no matter who they are, where they are, or how they feel, goes through life, and can recognize the different phases of it. So, because this theme is so common throughout the world, the world started to listen to it, which increased the listener count all the way to number 1.
All in all, Djo’s “End of Beginning” not only got promoted by the hit show Stranger Things, but also has a captivating chorus, and a relatable message. So, maybe try out a new genre of music later, and find “Another version of” you. “Trust me, you’ll be fine”(Joe Kerry: End of Beginning).
