Roxette‘s classic ballad It Must Have Been Love has joined YouTube’s Billion Views Club, becoming the Swedish duo’s first music video to surpass one billion views on the platform. The milestone comes almost 40 years after the song was originally released in 1987 and more than three decades after it became a global hit through the 1990 film Pretty Woman.
The achievement marks another landmark for one of Roxette’s biggest international hits, which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 and remains one of the defining power ballads of its era.
It Must Have Been Love becomes Roxette’s biggest YouTube milestone
Originally released as a Christmas song in Sweden in 1987, It Must Have Been Love found worldwide success after being included on the soundtrack to the romantic comedy Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.
The official music video combines footage of Roxette performing with scenes from the film, helping introduce the song to millions of cinema audiences when Pretty Woman was released in 1990.
The video has now passed one billion views on YouTube, making it Roxette’s first entry into the platform’s Billion Views Club.
A defining hit for Roxette
It Must Have Been Love spent two weeks at Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States during 1990 and remained on the chart for 25 weeks.
The single became one of Roxette’s four US Number 1 hits and remains the only song from the duo to spend multiple weeks at the top of the Billboard chart.
In the UK, the song reached Number 3 on the Official Singles Chart and stayed in the Top 100 for 14 weeks.
Marie Fredriksson’s performance remains unforgettable
The song is widely remembered for the emotional vocal performance of the late Marie Fredriksson, whose voice helped make It Must Have Been Love one of the defining ballads of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2002 and returned to performing with Roxette in 2009 following extensive treatment. She retired from touring in 2016 on medical advice and died in 2019 after living with cancer for 17 years.
Roxette continue touring in 2026
Roxette are currently touring Europe with the Live – Back Again! 2026 tour, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the band’s debut album.
The current live line-up features founder, songwriter and guitarist Per Gessle, alongside Swedish singer Lena Philipsson, who performs the female lead vocal parts in the live show.
Nearly four decades after its original release, It Must Have Been Love continues to find new audiences, with one billion YouTube views highlighting the song’s enduring popularity across generations.
