Lady Gaga’s 2011 Deep Cut ‘Bloody Mary’ Debuts on Hot 100, Thanks to ‘Wednesday’ Hype
Lady Gaga’s 2011 Born This Way track “Bloody Mary” enters at No. 68 on the latest Billboard Hot 100 (dated Jan. 14).
The song debuts over a decade after its release thanks, initially, to hype on TikTok sparked by the new Netflix Addams Family spin-off series Wednesday, despite the fact that the song isn’t actually featured in the show. (TikTok does not presently contribute directly to Billboard‘s charts.)
In the series, the titular character appears in a dance sequence soundtracked by The Cramps’ 1981 single “Goo Goo Muck.” Fans took the clip to TikTok but replaced “Goo Goo Muck” with a sped-up version of “Bloody Mary,” which then went viral. The song has been used in nearly 4 million videos on the platform to date. Lady Gaga herself participated in the trend, in which she re-created the dance, garnering more than 12 million views.
The song’s renewed attention has helped it steadily gain in recent weeks, leading to its Hot 100 arrival (also aided by the post-Christmas drop-off of holiday songs) with 6.1 million U.S. streams (up 13%), 4.3 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 28%) and 2,000 downloads sold in the Dec. 30-Jan. 5 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The track is now also being promoted by Interscope Records to pop radio. As such, it rises 36-32 on the Pop Airplay chart, becoming Lady Gaga’s 23rd entry at the format upon its debut two weeks earlier. Born This Way generated five Pop Airplay hits during its original run: “Born This Way” (No. 1 for a week in April 2011), “Judas” (No. 15), “The Edge of Glory” (No. 3), “You and I” (No. 7) and then “Marry the Night” (No. 14).
Born This Way debuted at No. 1 on the June 11, 2011-dated Billboard 200 and spent two weeks on top, marking Lady Gaga’s first of six No. 1 albums. It went on to receive Grammy nominations for album of the year and best pop vocal album.
“Bloody Mary” earns Lady Gaga her 36th career entry on the Hot 100, and first since last year’s Top Gun: Maverick anthem “Hold My Hand,” which reached No. 49. She has banked five No. 1s: “Just Dance,” featuring Colby O’Donis (2009), “Poker Face” (2009), “Born This Way” (2011), “Shallow, with Bradley Cooper (2019), and “Rain on Me,” with Ariana Grande (2020).
Wednesday premiered on Netflix on Nov. 23, and its effect on “Bloody Mary” was almost immediate. In the Nov. 25-Dec. 1 tracking week, the song surged 424% in official on-demand U.S. streams, from 526,000 to 2.7 million, and 955% in digital song sales.
Further, “Bloody Mary” hits new highs on the Jan. 14-dated Billboard Global Excl. U.S. (No. 28) and Billboard Global 200 (No. 31) charts, after it first reached the former tally’s top 40 in December.
Xander Zellner
Billboard