Highlights

  • The GTA 6 trailer has boosted Tom Petty's Spotify streams by over 36,000% for his song "Love Is A Long Road," but it still pales in comparison to his most popular song "Free Fallin'" with over 630 million streams.
  • The leaked GTA 6 trailer caused frustration for Rockstar developers, but the official release has been well-received and fans are analyzing it for hints about the story.
  • Fans will have to wait until 2025 for GTA 6's release, and more trailers are likely to come, but there is also a risk of future leaks spoiling the game for others.

The long-awaited reveal trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 has given late singer/songwriter Tom Petty a huge boost on Spotify. The first official GTA 6 trailer netted Rockstar Games over 2 million new subscribers on YouTube in the days since it dropped on December 4, 2023, over 10 years since GTA 5 released. As of writing, the trailer has received over 108 million views, more than the official GTA 5 trailer received in its lifetime.

One of the things Grand Theft Auto has become known for is its use of licensed music. The last game in the series, GTA 5, features over 400 songs across 16 radio stations, each representing a specific genre. While Tom Petty did not have a song in GTA 5, his song "Runnin' Down A Dream" featured in GTA: San Andreas.

Kai Cenat sitting on a wooden chair in purple jacket next to Grand Theft Auto VI GTA 6 logo
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The number of Spotify streams of Tom Petty's song titled "Love Is A Long Road" has skyrocketed by over 36,000% since the GTA 6 trailer was revealed, for a total of over 11 million streams. The song is off of his 1989 album Full Moon Fever. This is an impressive boost. However, it hardly compares to his most popular song, "Free Fallin'," which has been played over 630 million times on Spotify. Tom's official Twitter account shared the GTA 6 trailer, saying it is an honor to have "Love Is A Long Road" featured in it.

While it has many fans excited, the GTA 6 trailer was leaked early, prompting angry responses from developers working at Rockstar. Carefully crafted marketing campaigns can be completely derailed by such leaks. All Rockstar could do in this case was officially release the trailer earlier than it had planned, and thankfully, it has gone over exceedingly well judging by the numbers. Naturally, the 90-second trailer is being picked apart and analyzed from every angle by fans everywhere as they try to find clues about the story hidden inside.

Fans of Rockstar Games' most popular franchise have a long wait before GTA 6 arrives in 2025, so it will likely get a few more trailers ahead of its release. It may be a year or more before GTA 6 gets another trailer, possibly revealing more about the story and characters or even some gameplay. The sad takeaway is that there will potentially be more leaks, and it is a well-established fact that there are people out there who derive some kind of pleasure from spoiling things for others.