Spotify's monthly listener counts for August are out, leaving fans divided after Bruno Mars dethroned Taylor Swift as the third most-listened-to artist globally. Mars released only one song this year—Die With a Smile with Lady Gaga—and has been ranked third with over 97 million monthly listeners.
Taylor Swift, on the other hand, ranks fourth on the list with over 94 million monthly listeners. Swift has not released any new songs recently; she dropped her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department, on April 19, 2024.
The monthly listener stats, which have recently gone viral on social media, seem to have triggered a heated debate between fans of the two singers. Some of the users appeared to be crediting the increase in Bruno Mars' listener count to his latest song with Lady Gaga as they commented:
"Thank you Lady Gaga"
Others seemed to be discrediting Mars similarly with tweets like:
"And black fishing say thank u gaga, critiqued an X user"
"but who’s out streaming and outselling who, questioned one user"
"Meanwhile Taylor remains the artist with the most daily streams by a huge margin. The above khia achievement reflects only playlisting and autoplay keep that in mind😂, accused another user"
Not everyone seemed to be up against Mars' achievement. While some praised his music, others seemed happy to see Swift dethroned.
"Congrats to Bruno Mars! A very talented singer, writer, and dancer, praised a fan"
"The music industry is healing 🫶, tweeted another X user"
"Difference between quantity and quality, added one user"
Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga released Die With a Smile on August 16, 2024
Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga served one of the biggest summer collabs last month by releasing Die With a Smile on August 16, 2024. The duo's first project is based on love themes, delivered through a soft-rock musical.
The collaboration was as unexpected for Lady Gaga as it could be for fans. Talking to Stereogum in August 2024, Gaga hinted that Mars called her to his Malibu studio to listen to some music. When she arrived at the studio, Bruno Mars presented the unfinished track he was working on.
Blown away by the soulful lyrical, Lady Gaga worked on the song with the Grenade singer. The duo reportedly stayed up all night to finish writing and recording Die With a Smile.
Talking about how she felt about working with Bruno, Lady Gaga told Stereogum in August 2024:
“Bruno’s talent is beyond explanation. His musicianship and vision is next level. There’s no one like him.”
Bruno Mars didn't hold back from praising Gaga and told Stereogum:
“Getting to work with Gaga has been an honor. She’s an icon and she makes this song magical. I’m so excited for everyone to hear it.”
Die with a Smile sold over 21,000 digital and physical copies in the opening week. The song's first-week streaming performance made it number one on Apple Music, iTunes, and Spotify.
It debuted at No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and reigned at seventh position on the UK Singles chart. Die with a Smile received a relatively warmer response in Asian markets, taking it to Billboard's Global 200 chart.
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Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga also released the music video for Die with the Smile on August 16, 2024. The video featured Gaga playing a classic keyboard while Bruno shredded a guitar. At the time of this article's publication, the retro-themed video had received over 54 million views on YouTube.
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