"Starboy" by The Weeknd (featuring Daft Punk) has firmed its grip on the No. 1 spot on Spotify's U.S. Music Streaming singles chart. Globally, however, things are different, with The Chainsmokers' smash hit "Closer" still sitting atop the chart with The Weekend's track coming in as runner-up.
Last week we told you about the neck-and-neck race between The Weeknd and The Chainsmokers on Spotify's weekly U.S. streaming chart. The Weeknd's song "Starboy," the first single from the upcoming album of the same name scheduled to be released Nov. 26, had just edged out The Chainsmokers' massive hit "Closer," which had been ruling the charts over the past few months. We told you the two songs were so close that the following week the crown would be up for grabs again, and now the results are in.
The Weeknd Tops U.S. Streaming Chart
The Weeknd has remained on top in Spotify's U.S. streaming chart for a second week, and it looks as if the electronic R&B star is now pulling away from his closest competition a bit as he finished the week with 10,145,312 streams to The Chainsmokers' 9,685,902 plays. That's almost half a million more streams for "Starboy" than "Closer" in the past week, whereas the week before the two were separated by less than 100,000 plays.
The Chainsmokers Still Rule Globally
Globally, however, the positions are reversed, with The Chainsmokers remaining firmly at the No. 1 spot with more than 2 million more total streams than The Weeknd. The Chainsmokers ended the week with 31,946,452 million streams worldwide while The Weeknd landed 29, 548,019 plays on the world's most popular on-demand music streaming service.
The Chainsmokers vs. Lady Gaga, Part Two
Meanwhile, after it appeared as if The Chainsmokers had kissed and made up with Lady Gaga after dissing her song "Perfect Illusion" from her new Joanne album in an interview with Rolling Stone, member Drew Taggart, who proclaimed himself a "loudmouth New Yorker," seemed unwilling to keep his mouth shut when he reopened the wounds in an on-air BBC interview.
Taggart once again criticized Gaga, claiming that her Twitter response suggesting that The Chainsmokers might prefer her new song "A-YO" was a marketing ploy and backhanded diss of the duo.
"She was clever, she promoted her new song while throwing shade at us and was like 'maybe you'll like this one better' and the song kind of felt like a diss track," said Taggart.
It looks as if Gaga isn't getting any respect on the Spotify charts either, where despite an enormous promotional push that included singing appearances by the singer on Saturday Night Live, The Howard Stern Show and James Corden's "Carpool Karaoke" segment of his The Late Late Show, "A-YO" has stalled at number 56 in the United States and at 62 globally, with "Perfect Illusion" placing even further down the list.
