‘Loser’ Becomes Tame Impala’s First-Ever Number One Thanks to ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

Tame Impala has spent nearly two decades building a reputation as one of modern music’s most respected genre-benders, earning critical acclaim and a devoted fanbase without ever quite breaking into the absolute top tier of the charts. That’s largely stayed true even through the acclaimed rollout of “Deadbeat,” the project’s fifth studio album, which arrived in 2025 to strong reviews but modest initial commercial traction.

That momentum started shifting earlier this summer when “Dracula,” another “Deadbeat” cut featuring JENNIE, became Kevin Parker’s first-ever top ten hit on both the Hot AC and Pop radio formats, racking up more than 983 million worldwide Spotify streams along the way. Even with that breakthrough, a true chart-topping single had remained just out of reach for the project.

That finally changed this week. “Loser” has reached number one on Spotify’s Daily Global chart, following its prominent placement in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” marking Tame Impala’s first-ever chart-topper on the platform’s global ranking.

The song’s rise has been nothing short of explosive since the film’s July 31 theatrical debut. “Loser” first re-entered Spotify’s Daily Global chart at a new career peak of number 87 with 1.507 million streams, before rocketing up the rankings day by day as moviegoers connected the track to its emotionally charged placement in the film, reportedly during a scene where Peter Parker watches his best friend fail to recognize him.

That connection between story and song appears to have driven much of the track’s staying power. Spotify has referred to the broader trend as the “Spider-Man Effect,” noting that “Loser” posted a 456% jump in U.S. streams following the movie’s opening weekend, part of a wider surge that also lifted older soundtrack staples like “Sunflower” from “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

The single’s success has extended well beyond Spotify’s daily rankings, too. On Billboard’s Global 200 chart, “Loser” vaulted from 51 to 5, marking a 72% jump to 30 million streams worldwide, while also climbing into the top ten of the Hot 100’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs list.

That growth has coincided directly with the box office dominance of the film itself. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” starring Tom Holland and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, cleared $2 billion globally within its first three weekends of release, a run so strong it also became Sony Pictures’ biggest film ever overseas, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Loser” wasn’t the only track to benefit from the film’s soundtrack placement. Steve Lacy’s “Oh Yeah?,” the title track from his own third studio album, has similarly surged up multiple charts, with both songs landing in the top ten of Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs list simultaneously, and both making appearances on the Hot 100 following the film’s release.

For Parker, who has operated under the Tame Impala name since founding it as a home-recording project in Perth back in 2007, this milestone caps off a particularly strong stretch for “Deadbeat” as an album overall. With “Dracula” already having delivered his first top ten radio hit and “Loser” now delivering his first Spotify global number one, the record has quietly become one of the most successful rollouts of his career, even generating some early Grammy buzz as a potential Album of the Year contender.

Given how directly this success traces back to the film’s soundtrack placement, “Loser’s” chart-topping run stands as a clear example of how a well-placed movie sync can completely reshape a song’s commercial trajectory months after its original release. Whether the track can hold onto the top spot as the film’s theatrical run continues remains to be seen, but for now, Tame Impala has officially claimed a milestone that had eluded the project for nearly two decades.

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