BB: Is Miley Cyrus' Song 'On a Roll' Going to End Up Her Biggest New Hit?

[BUtterfield 8 41,374]

Last week, the song netted 5.4 million streams, according to Nielsen Music -- up 57 percent from the previous week -- which is also the number of streams notched by "Mother's Daughter" over the same period.

That number seems likely to improve this week, as the song has been steadily climbing the Spotify U.S. daily chart -- from No. 82 (with 319,342 spins) on June 25 to No. 29 (with 591,778 spins) on July 2. It's also currently placed fourth on Spotify's popular Today's Top Hits playlist, higher than the latest singles by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, and about 30 spots ahead of "Mother's Daughter." (On Apple Music's The A-List: Pop, "On a Roll" is also listed higher than "Mother's Daughter," though the latter is the only one that appears on its Today's Hits playlist.) Pop radio still clearly favors "Mother's Daughter" at the moment, but as for which track Cyrus herself seems to be more invested in promoting, a source close to the situation tells Billboard that her team is currently promoting both songs without viewing either as an official impact single. (Miley is also still prepping two more EPs for later this year, She Is Here and She Is Everything.)

The full-length "On a Roll" wasn't even available at first, but that just seemed to help the song build hype and mystique, as fans assembled piecemeal music videos for the song from footage from the Black Mirror episode, and demanded the show (or Cyrus) release the full version. "On a Roll" initially existed as something of a Pop Twitter inside joke, something funny and weird to get disproportionately excited about. 

But the longer the joke went on -- and especially with the release of the full version in mid-June -- the less the song's popularity became about its novelty, and more about it just being a really fun throwback. Ironically, for all the show's dystopic futurism, Black Mirror's vision of Top 40 stardom is surprisingly stuck in the past: Ashley O is essentially an icon for the late '00s and early '10s, a moment when the winsome pop-rock sound and image of the Disney era had started to thicken and darken a little, thanks to the impact of mold-busting art-pop megastar Lady Gaga and the rising influence of EDM. It was a more carefree period in Top 40 music in general, and one that many listeners still have a great deal of affection for, as evidenced by the recent top 10 success of Ava Max, a modern pop singer-songwriter seemingly displaced from that era. 

"On a Roll" has the kind of canned electro-pop sound -- with just a hint of hip-hop in the bass and drums -- that was enormous on radio at the turn of the decade, and the video splits the difference between "Bad Romance"-era Gaga and "California Gurls"-era Katy Perry in a way that would've certainly made it a YouTube smash. Cyrus, a Disney pop-rock survivor herself, dabbled in this sound at the time, but not with particular success -- and by 2013, she had linked with trap kingpin Mike WiLL Made-It and would never be the same again. Ashley O is a version of Miley Cyrus that could've been, but never quite was, making it a gratifying alternate-reality vision of one of the most familiar stars of the 21st century. 

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8518583/miley-cyrus-ashley-o-on-a-roll-success-black-mirror?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

[iCpro 14,846]

If this becomes a hit over Mother’s Daughter 

Although it’s a bop so high key here for it 

[Regina George 59,387]

“Yea I’m a hoe” bop deserved 

[Zander 14,910]

4 minutes ago, ReginaGeorge said:

“Yea I’m a hoe” bop deserved 

I thought it was that to until I realised it was “Hey, yeah, whoa-ho, I'm on a roll” 

I think Miley even sang it the other way when she performed at Glasto

[Stephen 30,423]

I wonder if the success of this song will influence her 2 upcoming EPs

[Blastertoyo 22,728]

59 minutes ago, Rainbow1 said:

 

59 minutes ago, Rainbow1 said:

thanks to the impact of mold-busting art-pop megastar Lady Gaga and the rising influence of EDM

 

Literally Ha Impact 

[Harris Walz 2024 1,451]

Two huge hits in the making, most artists should be so lucky. Mother's Daughter looks to be my equivalent of what Applause was for Gaga to me. I STAN

[RAMROD 109,243]

I hope not. She shall not be cover song princess. I choose she would have biggest hit with Mothers Daughter, Unholy, or DREAM. 

[Gatlyn 1,330]

 

1 hour ago, Rainbow1 said:

thanks to the impact of mold-busting art-pop megastar Lady Gaga

Gaga getting her due credit for changing pop music  

[Saint Gaga 1,466]

Omg!!! WB should've released "Why did you do that" as a single with a music video.... We could've had a Quick lil meme hit

[Reginald 13,841]

Slay a little, Miley!

I'm really enjoying her again this era 

[A Hybrid 11,049]

If “On A Roll” becomes a hit and “Mother’s Daughter” doesn’t, that’s a crime against music

[Bt1 5,213]

It just shows how much Spotify can influence charts. They choose to put this song higher than Katy and Taylor ones and that was enough. 

[SamJ 8,008]

I mean it is a bop and maybe deserves like top 20 but Mothers Daughter deserves to top the billboard hot 100  i got goosebumps hearing it the first time.

[hELXIG 42,954]

Okay I'm just excited rn that this article referenced Gaga for changing pop music and used the word ARTPOP  

But also yeah the song is really catchy. Easy-to-love pop music