GTA 6: Streams soar for 70s rocker Tom Petty thanks to trailer

If you’re a gaming fan, you’ve almost definitely by now seen the long-awaited trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6.

But you might not have recognised the teaser’s soundtrack – a 1980s Tom Petty tune Love Is A Long Road.

While the trailer has racked up more than 100 million views, the song has also seen a huge leap in streams.

Since the trailer’s Tuesday release, Spotify tells BBC Newsbeat streams for the track have increased 36,979% compared to this time last week.

The teaser confirmed the game – which will be released in 2025 – will be set in Miami-inspired Vice City and star a female protagonist, Lucia, for the first time since the 1990s.

It has been 10 years since Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto 5, the second best-selling video game of all time behind Minecraft.

The US singer, who died aged 66 in 2017, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and is probably best known for songs like American Girl and Don’t Do Me Like That which he released with his band the Heartbreakers.

Love Is A Long Road, first released in 1989, was Petty’s B-side track for his debut solo album, Free Fallin’.

It peaked at number seven in the US charts that year and only ranked at 38 in a Rolling Stone’s list of his 50 greatest hits.

And while it’s now been streamed more than 11 million times on Spotify, it’s barely a stitch on his most popular track, Free Fallin’, which has been played more than 600 million times.

Spotify says it’s seen soundtracks skyrocket before, but never like this.

For comparison, when Linda Rondstadt’s Long Long Time was featured in the TV adaptation of The Last of Us, streams increased by 4,900%.

And spokesperson for the streaming service says GTA’s influence on the platform isn’t limited to Petty’s track.

A playlist curated with game creators Rockstar has been liked almost half a million times since it was created a couple of weeks ago.

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