The uplifting anthem racked up just shy of 102 million streams (101,838,799) on the platform within the seven-day period since its release. In so doing, it’s surpassed K-Pop group BTS’ 2021 track ‘Butter’, which held the previous record after securing 99.37 million Spotify streams in its first week.
The singer has thanked both Spotify and her “amazing fans” for her achievement.
“It’s been incredible watching ‘Flowers’ break the record for most streams in a single week,” Jana Coffey, Spotify’s artist & label partnerships lead, has said in a statement to Variety.
“The song was already off to an amazing start after its first day, and it’s only grown from there. Rather than seeing massive streams on day one that decline throughout the week, each day since release has been bigger than the one before. Miley is back, and with her album Endless Summer Vacation coming out in a few months this is just the beginning.”
As well as flipping the lyrics of Bruno Mars’ 2012 track ‘When I Was Your Man’, with the self-empowering line “I can buy myself flowers”, Cyrus’ tune has also been frequently reported as a reference to the singer’s former marriage to Aussie actor Liam Hemsworth. The pair were married for just over a year before finalising their divorce in January 2020.
Not only was ‘Flowers’ released on Hemsworth’s 33rd birthday (13 January), but is believed to reference the pair’s former Malibu home, which burnt down in November 2018 due to wildfires, notably with the line: “We were right ‘til we weren’t / Built a home and watched it burn.”
The fact is, though, whether it’s aimed at her es-husband or not, ‘Flowers’ has been a remarkable, history-making success, setting up her forthcoming record nicely.
Thank you so much @Spotify and my amazing fans. ❤️ https://t.co/Zbcr5arWP3
— Miley Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) January 20, 2023
It still has some way to go to overtake Cyrus’s all-time leading Spotify track, ‘Party in the USA’, which currently has just shy of 1.1 billion streams; after its impressive start to streaming life, though, it’s certainly achievable.
