Lady Gaga And Blackpink’s ‘Sour Candy’ Debut Smashes Spotify And YouTube Records
by Bryan Rolli
Lady Gaga and Blackpink’s long-awaited collaboration “Sour Candy” shattered streaming records during its monstrous debut on Thursday (May 28).
“Sour Candy” debuted one day before Chromatica, Gaga’s first studio album since 2016’s Joanne. The dance-pop song debuted at No. 6 on the global Spotify chart with over 3.67 million streams and No. 12 in the United States with over 757,000 streams. The first-day sum granted Blackpink the biggest debut for a song by a girl group in Spotify history, according to Chart Data. As of Thursday afternoon, the song had also reached No. 1 on iTunes in 52 countries, another record for a girl group.
“Sour Candy” performed exceptionally on YouTube as well. It racked up roughly 21.8 million views in its first 24 hours, breaking the record for the biggest debut for an all-female collaboration on the video platform. (Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey formerly held the record with “Don’t Call Me Angel,” off the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack.) That first-day haul is even more impressive when considering “Sour Candy” does not have a music video; all of those views came from an audio video.
The explosive debut for “Sour Candy” can be at least partially attributed to Blackpink’s yearlong gap between releases, which is exceptionally long by K-pop standards. “Sour Candy” marks the quartet’s first release since the Kill This Love EP in April 2019, and it precedes its first full-length album, which is slated for September.
“Sour Candy” is the third pre-release single off Chromatica, following “Stupid Love” and the Ariana Grande collaboration “Rain on Me,” and it seems poised to continue Gaga’s hot streak. “Stupid Love” debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March, while “Rain on Me” is challenging for a No. 1 debut on this week’s chart. The collab debuted at No. 1 on the global Spotify chart last Friday with 6.742 million streams, the biggest single-day total for an all-female collaboration on the streaming service.
These metrics point to a robust debut for Chromatica, which would serve as a commercial rebound for Gaga following the lackluster performance of Joanne. (The album debuted at No. 1 with 201,000 album-equivalent units but fell to No. 5 in its second week with a 70% sales decline.) The pop star’s newest album is all but guaranteed to perform better on streaming services than its predecessor, which debuted with 26 million first-week streams. And while the first-day sales and streams of “Sour Candy” won’t count toward next week’s Hot 100 since the song debuted on a Thursday, it still has a shot at earning Blackpink their first Top 40 entry on the chart if it holds steady throughout the week.