Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers” is in bloom on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, becoming just the second single in her storied pop career to top the chart, and her first to debut on top. It does so with some of the most spectacular first-full-week numbers of the decade so far: 52.6 million streams, 70,000 digital song sales and 33.5 million radio airplay audience impressions, according to Luminate.
But it’s not just the Columbia-released “Flowers” that’s blossoming this week — Cyrus’ entire back catalog is growing in the sunlight of her new release. Even without accounting for “Flowers,” Cyrus’ discography is up from 20.7 weekly million official on-demand U.S. streams in the tracking week ending Jan. 12 to 34.2 million the following week (ending Jan. 19), a 65% gain.
Some of the major gainers from Cyrus’ catalog include her enduring classics like “Wrecking Ball” (up from 1.9 million to 3.0 million, a 59% gain), “Party in the U.S.A.” (3.5 million to 4.8 million, 35.4%) and “We Can’t Stop (1.4 million to 2.0 million, 46.3%). One of the biggest beneficiaries was her most recent lead single prior to “Flowers”: “Midnight Sky,” from 2020’s Plastic Hearts (1.7 million to 3.2 million, 88.8%).
And the “Flowers” boost has also spread to a catalog smash by another top 40 household name of the past decade-plus: Bruno Mars. His 2013 Hot 100-topping ballad “When I Was Your Man” has been cited by popwatchers on social media as a likely inspiration for the lyrics to “Flowers,” with the latter’s chorus seeming to be in response (or at least in conversation) with the refrain to the former. (Mars: “I should’ve bought you flowers”; Cyrus: “I can buy myself flowers.”)
Evidently, the chatter over the relationship between the two songs — with fans further speculating that the reference is a subtle dig at Cyrus’ ex Liam Hemsworth, as he supposedly once dedicated the song to Cyrus following their first breakup in 2013 — also inspired fans to go back and listen to Mars’ original. “Your Man,” always a productive streamer, rose from 4.5 million to 5.3 million in weekly official on-demand streams for the week ending Jan. 19, a 19.5% gain.
