To Celebrate 25 Years Of Darude's "Sandstorm," People All Across Finland Played It At The Same Time
On May 8, at exactly 9:15 am local time, radio stations, malls, schools and other places across Finland played "Sandstorm" at the same time.
All of Finland paused for a moment and came together on May 8 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Darude’s iconic song "Sandstorm."
Darude is the stage name of Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen, a Finnish DJ and music producer.
The song was released on October 26, 1999, and became one of Finland’s biggest hits around the world.
On May 8, at exactly 9:15 am local time, radio stations, malls, schools and other places across Finland played "Sandstorm" at the same time.
Several videos of the events making rounds on social media showed people dancing at radio stations, students dancing in classrooms, shoppers stopping to enjoy the music in malls and people listening in their cars.
Darude thanked everyone on social media for the nationwide tribute, calling it "an honor".
After it came out, “Sandstorm” quickly became very popular in clubs and was also widely played at sports games and events.
In 2007, a YouTuber named GameStream used “Sandstorm” as background music in a video showing gameplay from Call of Duty 4, gaining the song more popularity and turning the track into a well-known meme, according to Portugal Pulse.
Sandstorm became the most-streamed Finnish song ever on Spotify, with almost 470 million plays by the end of 2024 and Billboard put it on their list of "The 100 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time in 2025”.
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