Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” Breaks Spotify Record

Bruno Mars is the Spotify king…

The 27-year-old part-Puerto Rican singer’s latest single, “Locked Out of Heaven,” has set a Spotify record as the first single to be streamed more than one million times in a one-week period. The song also became the most-streamed in Spotify history as of December 16. During the same week, it was also the most downloaded song in the country with sales of 226,000.

Bruno Mars

Produced by Mark Ronson and written by Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine, “Locked Out of Heaven” is the lead single from Mars’ sophomore album Unorthodox Jukebox. The song has been sitting in the No. 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, supported in part by Spotify’s on-demand streams. It’s currently in the Top 10 in more than 20 countries.

Meanwhile, Mars’ sophomore album, via Atlantic Records, has sold more than a half-million copies since its release on December 11.

Music critics and fans have compared the sound of “Locked Out of Heaven” to that of English rock band The Police. Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone has said that the song’s “jittery Police-esque rock-reggae verses that erupt, amid thunder-boom synths, into a steamrolling four-on-the-floor chorus.” Paste Magazine‘s Ryan Reed calls it “a driving pop anthem that moves from a punchy, ‘Roxanne‘-esque new-wave groove to a soulful, synth-driven chorus.”

Speaking about the comparisons to The Police, Mars told MTV News, “Hell yeah! You try to write a Police song! I grew up listening to The Police, I grew up performing in bars, singing Police songs. I remember performing a song like ‘Roxanne.’ ”

Bruno’s next single is the soulful ballad “When I Was Your Man.”