Music has always been an essential part of the gaming experience, so video game developers always place great importance on the soundtrack selection for each game.
From Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata in Jet Set Willy on the ZX Spectrum, to the earworm Korobeiniki used in the iconic Gameboy version of Tetris, gamers will be familiar with many of the tunes soundtracking their favourite title.
But in recent times, the game soundtrack has become big business, creating hit songs that can attract millions of streams online, and earning serious money.
The gaming experts at SecureCheats have analyzed streaming data from the music used in the world's most popular games to find out which are chart-toppers.
Here's what they found - including Grand Theft Auto V, which was created by Edinburgh-based games company Rock Star North.
1. Grand Theft Auto V
Placing first on the list is the highly popular Grand Theft Auto V. As one of the highest-selling video games of all time, it is no surprise GTA places number one with the top ten songs, having 305,040,570 plays on Spotify, earning £593,200 altogether. The soundtrack features hip-hop royalty, such as A$AP Rocky and Tyler the Creator. A$AP Rocky’s ‘R-Cali’ song alone has 69,414,348 streams through Spotify.
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the second most popular video game soundtrack, with the top ten songs receiving 258,680,379 plays on Spotify. The action role-playing game has beaten many strong contenders to take second position on this list, released in 2011; it received critical acclaim upon release and was generally well received by critics. The top ten songs of the soundtrack earn £503,045 alone through Spotify royalty earnings. The most popular song on the soundtrack is ‘Secunda’, which has 44,064,048 streams alone.
3. The Last of Us
The Last of Us ranks third on the list. Naughty Dog developed the 2013 action-adventure game, and its top ten soundtrack songs have 179,433,743 streams, earning £348,937 through Spotify royalties. The Last of Us is one of the most popular video games, so much so that HBO turned it into a popular TV series, which became an award-winning show. The most popular song on the official soundtrack is ‘The Last of Us’ with 60,843,559 plays alone. Gustavo Santaolalla features on every song in the official game soundtrack.
4. Death Stranding
Death Stranding places fourth on the list, with 137,811,743 plays for the top ten songs on the official game soundtrack. The top ten songs earn £304,765 through Spotify royalties, ‘Don’t Be So Serious’ by artist Low Roar has 23,424,933 plays alone on Spotify.