Lady Gaga Becomes The Third Artist To Have Multiple #1 Hits In Three Different Decades
She pulled it off. Way back in August, Lady Gaga released her Bruno Mars duet “Die With A Smile,” an old-school love-jam that debuted at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. For months, “Die With A Smile” hung around the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100, but it was blocked from the #1 spot, usually by Shaboozey’s long-reigning “Tipsy (A Bar Song).” But now that all the Christmas music is finally gone from the Hot 100, Gaga and Mars’ song finally reaches #1 in its 20th week on the chart. As Billboard reports, Gaga has entered rarefied chart air, joining the very small list of artists who have scored multiple #1 hits in three different decades.
“Die With A Smile” is Lady Gaga’s sixth #1 hit. She first topped the chart with the one-two punch of “Just Dance” and “Poker Face” in 2009. She returned to the #1 spot with 2011’s “Born This Way,” the 2019 Bradley Cooper duet “Shallow,” and the 2020 Ariana Grande collab “Rain On Me.” The only two other artists to score at least two #1 hits per decade across three decades are Michael Jackson, who did it in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, and his sister Janet, who did it in the ’80s, ’90s, and ’10s.
There are plenty of other artists with long spans of #1 hits, but none of them quite meet that fairly-arbitrary benchmark. Stevie Wonder, for instance, only landed one #1 hit in the ’60s. Paul McCartney would make the list if you included his Beatles work, but he didn’t land his first #1 as a solo artist until 1971. The same is true of Diana Ross — who might also make this list, as the Supremes’ last two #1 hits in the ’60s were technically credited to Diana Ross & The Supremes. Mariah Carey topped the chart many times in the ’90s and ’10s, but her holiday song “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has been her only #1 hit in the past two decades. Britney Spears would’ve needed one more ’90s chart-topper to qualify, and Madonna would need one more in the ’00s.
Gaga celebrated that newly unlocked achievement in an Instagram video today, saying, “I am so honored to be an artist and to have had your ears for this long. Thank you for listening and dancing and making your art along with mine.”
If Bruno Mars started making #1 hits a few months earlier, he’d be on that list right next to Gaga. Mars landed his first two chart-toppers in 2010, and “Die With A Smile” is his ninth. Mars also has two songs in this week’s top five, as “APT,” his collaboration with BlackPink member ROSÉ, rises to #5 — pretty good for someone who hasn’t had a solo album in more than eight years.
