The Biggest Global Hits of the 2020s: “Blinding Lights” vs “Die With A Smile”
Credits: Cover art for “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd © 2019 Republic Records. Cover art for “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars © 2024 Interscope Records.
Two songs, nearly five years apart, dominated the world. On Spotify, one became the most-streamed track in history. The other shattered speed records to a billion streams.
Those two songs are “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd and “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars. They are now the two biggest global chart hits of the 2020s, as ranked by their performance on weekly official global charts1 measured by the inverse point system used in the US2. See our full Biggest Global Chart Hits of the 2020s list for the cumulative ranking.
We put their first year on the charts head-to-head to see which one came out on top.
“Blinding Lights”
Synth-pop/new wave track “Blinding Lights” was released in November 2019 as the second single from ‘After Hours’, debuting at #7 on Spotify’s weekly Global 200 chart. It was a slow-burn success, reaching #1 in the week ending February 27, 2020, three months after its release.
It dominated during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, spending 13 weeks at #1 and 65 weeks in the global top 10.
Today, “Blinding Lights” is the most-streamed song in Spotify history, with over 5 billion plays across all versions.
“Die With A Smile”
Pop-soul/soft-rock ballad “Die With A Smile” was released in August 2024 and began as a standalone track before being added to Lady Gaga’s ‘MAYHEM’ album. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard Global 200, climbed to #1 second week, and remained there for 8 consecutive weeks.
In 2025, it returned to #1 for 10 more weeks after being temporarily held off from the summit by Bruno Mars’ other collaboration with ROSÉ, “APT.” With 18 total weeks at #1, it’s just one week shy of the record, trailing only Mariah Carey’s perennial holiday hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You”.
Today, it holds the record for the fastest track ever to reach both 1 billion and 2 billion streams on Spotify.
Week-by-week breakdown
Chart units are estimated to the nearest 5K3.
Week 1
“Die With A Smile”
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
“Blinding Lights”
The Weeknd
First week, “Die With A Smile” opened 40% stronger than “Blinding Lights” by chart units. The Weeknd’s single was released just two days after the lead single “Heartless” which sucked up most of the attention and radio promotion.
Week 2
“Die With A Smile”
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
“Blinding Lights”
The Weeknd
Second week, “Blinding Lights” slid to #12, while “Die With A Smile” rose up to #1.
At this point in time, most chart-watchers assumed “Blinding Lights” was fading. “Die With A Smile”, on the other hand, was looking like an unstoppable smash.
The Weeknd’s early fortunes looked even less promising in the US.
On the Billboard Hot 100, “Blinding Lights” debuted outside the top 10, at #11. It then tumbled to #52 second week, then #63 third week, then #72 fourth week. But the slide stopped there. From that point, “Blinding Lights” mounted a steady climb to #1, beginning a legendary run that would shatter records for most weeks in the top 10 and on the chart overall. By the end of its run, it had become the Hot 100’s biggest hit of all time.
Globally, its chart run was even more impressive. It spent 13 weeks at #1 (4 in the US), and 65 weeks in the top 10 (57 in the US).
Week 13
“Blinding Lights”
The Weeknd
“Die With A Smile”
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
“Blinding Lights” began its global #1 run in week 13. “Die With A Smile” was far in the lead by this point thanks to its more explosive start (8 consecutive weeks at #1), but was blocked by “APT.” for the remainder of 2024 and would now lose substantial ground to “Blinding Lights” as the inverse point system has a 200 point drop-off from #1 to #2.
Week 29
“Blinding Lights”
The Weeknd
“Die With A Smile”
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
“Blinding Lights” concluded its #1 run in week 29, logging 13 weeks atop the global chart, while “Die With A Smile” was in the midst of its second #1 run.
Although “Die With A Smile” was ahead in units by over 40%, the inverse point gap narrowed to just 5%.
Week 36
“Die With A Smile”
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
“Blinding Lights”
The Weeknd
“Die With A Smile” concluded its #1 run after spending 18 total weeks at the summit. The inverse point gap had widened to 14%.
Week 52
“Die With A Smile”
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
“Blinding Lights”
The Weeknd
By the end of their first year, “Blinding Lights” spent 47 weeks out of 52 total weeks in the top 10, while “Die With A Smile” spent all 52 charting weeks in the top 10.
In terms of raw performance, “Die With A Smile” had a clear lead — ahead by over 30% in units and nearly 20% in inverse points, and was still performing better week-to-week.
“Die With A Smile” was remarkably consistent for an entire 30 weeks before it began to falter in chart units. It spent 35 weeks earning over 300K weekly units, while “Blinding Lights” only managed 13.
Year 2
At first glance, “Die With A Smile” appears to be the bigger hit: faster-selling, more dominant, and higher-scoring within its first year.
But it’s not the full story.
“Blinding Lights” had a second wind after its first year, with multiple distinct boosts.
- GRAMMYs controversy (Nov. 2020): The Weeknd boycotted the GRAMMYs after receiving zero nominations for ‘After Hours’, tweeting “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency…” “Blinding Lights” rose from 19.9M to 24.6M streams on Global Spotify in its 53rd week.
- ROSALÍA Remix (Dec. 2020): released in its 54th week, adding a minor boost over subsequent weeks (20% week 1).
- Viral music video for “Save Your Tears” (Jan. 2021): while not directly related, it helped keep momentum for the overall ‘After Hours’ era alive, earning The Weeknd another #1 single several months later. During the early 2021 period, “Blinding Lights” charted at #2 for many weeks.
- Super Bowl Halftime Performance (Feb. 2021): the most significant, catapulting its second-year success.
Week 63
On week 63 of release for “Blinding Lights”, The Weeknd performed at the 2021 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
The Weeknd performing at the 2021 Super Bowl Halftime Show | Credit: CBS
“Blinding Lights”
The Weeknd
“Die With A Smile”
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
“Blinding Lights” shot up to 265K units and charted at #2, while “Die With A Smile” is projected to slide to around 150K units in its 63rd week, outside of the top 10.
“Blinding Lights” spent an additional 8 weeks in the top 10 after the Super Bowl, while “Die With A Smile” has likely passed most of its promotional peak — the ‘MAYHEM’ album is behind it, and it’s expected to slowly decline for the rest of its run.
Week 71
“Blinding Lights” spent its last week inside the global top 10 in week 71.
“Die With A Smile” is currently at 52 weeks, but is teetering on the edge of the top 10 and may struggle to earn more weeks inside of the region. As a result, despite being over 3,000 points ahead currently, any lost top 10 weeks would cause it to lose substantial ground.
If “Die With A Smile” were to gain just three more top 10 weeks, then at week 71, here’s how they would roughly compare:
- “Blinding Lights” - 26,016 points
- “Die With A Smile” - 25,780 points
Week 104
“Blinding Lights” accumulated an estimated 21 million chart units in its first two years, while “Die With A Smile” is projected to earn around 24 million chart units by the end of its second year (Aug. 2026), based on its trajectory of decline.
So after two years, “Die With A Smile” is still projected to be ahead in raw units. Ultimately though, for the 2020s global chart ranking, inverse points are what matter — particularly, time spent in the top 10. “Blinding Lights” went on to earn 25,376 points while charting inside the top 10, and a further 7,800 plus points while outside the top 10. “Die With A Smile” is currently at 23,408 points total earned in the top 10 after 52 weeks (with no weeks outside the top 10 yet).
While top 10 weeks are crucial, because point gains are fastest in the region, it’s possible “Die With A Smile” will perform better than “Blinding Lights” in the top 20-30 region, making up additional ground.
“Blinding Lights” ranks second for best longevity charting outside the top 10 by points earned. The number one? The Weeknd’s other big hit from ‘After Hours’—“Save Your Tears”. It has so far gained a total of over 10.3K points from ranks #11 to #200, while “Blinding Lights” has gained 7.8K.
Chart longevity
“Die With A Smile” bests “Blinding Lights” in weeks at #1 plus weeks inside the top 2, 3, 5, but not the top 10 yet, where it lags by 13 weeks.
| Rank | “Blinding Lights” (weeks) | “Die With A Smile” (weeks) |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | 13 | 18 |
| Top 2 | 21 | 36 |
| Top 3 | 34 | 42 |
| Top 5 | 40 | 46 |
| Top 10 | 65 | 52 |
| Top 20 | 86 | 52 |
| Top 50 | 173 | 52 |
Yearly breakdown
“Blinding Lights”
| Year | Est. chart units (m) | Spotify chart streams (m) |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1 | 116.4 |
| 2020 | 13 | 1660 |
| 2021 | 7.8 | 890.5 |
| 2022 | 4.8 | 610.7 |
| 2023 | 4.4 | 642.2 |
| 2024 | 4.1 | 664.5 |
| 2025 (31/52) | 2 | 323.3 |
| Total | 37.1 | 4907.6 |
“Blinding Lights” required an average of 132 Spotify streams on its main version to earn a single unit from 2019-present. However, this has been increasing over the past few years, which is a reflection of Spotify making up more of its total activity over time.
“Die With A Smile”
| Year | Est. chart units (m) | Spotify chart streams (m) |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 8 | 1395.4 |
| 2025 (31/52) | 9.5 | 1378.5 |
| Total | 17.5 | 2773.9 |
“Die With A Smile” required an average of 159 Spotify streams on its main version to earn a single unit so far. In contrast to “Blinding Lights”, this actually decreased from 2024 to 2025 — Spotify took up less of its streaming share as it performed notably better on YouTube.
While the unit value consists of a mix of consumption types and streaming services, this generally indicates that “Die With A Smile” sold fewer paid downloads than “Blinding Lights” (which is expected given paid downloads’ increasing decline as a consumption type), along with Spotify making up more of its total and/or more ad-supported streams as a proportion.
Closing thoughts
While “Blinding Lights” is still the biggest global chart hit of the 2020s so far, “Die With A Smile” had a stronger debut year and remains a serious contender to claim the crown by decade’s end.
The race isn’t over yet.
Footnotes
| Ref | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Spotify Weekly Global 200 from December 2019 to September 2020; Billboard Global 200 from September 2020 to present. |
| 2 | Points are assigned inversely across ranks 1–200. In this implementation, #1 is 600 points, #2 is 400 points, #3 is 380 points, etc. A song’s total is the sum of points across all weeks. The system emphasizes time spent high in the chart (top 10 weeks earn substantially more points). |
| 3 | Chart units are estimated to the nearest 5K based on the formula paid downloads + paid subscription streams / 200 + ad-supported streams / 900 — an official formula used by the Billboard Global 200. |