People still wonder how an old song ‘Die for You’ took six years to become a hit. The answer is TikTok, but it takes a lot more than that to make a song into a genuine hit single let alone take the longest climb to No. 1 for a non-holiday song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100.
The Weeknd’s ‘Die for You’, was originally released in November of 2016 on his “Starboy” album. The song’s origin story actually goes back even further than that, as “Starboy” saw the Weeknd (real name: Abel Tesfaye) reuniting with some collaborators from back in the day.
‘Starboy’ cemented the Weeknd as a superstar artist, and it speaks to the album’s depth that “Die for You” was the fifth single to be released from it, originally in September of 2017, peaking at No. 43 on the Hot 100, and appeared in the HBO series “Insecure” around the same time. He performed it on the tour behind the album, but the song did not see much further action until it started getting activity on TikTok in Southeast Asia in the summer of 2021. Republic’s streaming team quickly sprang into action.
The song was reserviced to pop radio and returned to the Hit 100 in August, beginning a slow second build toward the top of the charts. It finally reached No. 1 at pop radio in February, and the remix featuring Ariana Grande — who had helped power the Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” to No. 1 in 2021 — was released shortly after. On the chart dated March 6, the song soared from No. 6 to No. 1 on the Hot 100 (and topped the Global Spotify chart), giving both the Weeknd and Grande their seventh No. 1s, some six and a half years after the song was first released.
