Regarded as a pop icon, Miley Cyrus is one of the most influential artists in the country.

What makes this story so compelling is not just the rivalry — real or imagined — between Miley and Taylor, but the way it illustrates the unpredictable nature of music. Swift has mastered the art of control, engineering her career with precision.

Miley, meanwhile, has thrived in chaos, channeling heartbreak and reinvention into art that resonates beyond strategy.

Flowers wasn’t supposed to be the biggest song of the year. It wasn’t supposed to outshine Taylor Swift’s meticulously planned empire. And yet, against all odds, it did.

Industry insiders have already begun speculating about what this means for the future of pop.

Will Taylor take Miley’s victory as a challenge, pushing even harder to break streaming records with her next release?

Or will she continue to dominate other arenas, leaving Miley’s achievement as a rare exception in an otherwise Swift-dominated era?

Either way, the rivalry has energized fans, sparking debates about artistry, authenticity, and the unpredictable magic of a perfect pop song.

The singer-songwriter actress was 13 years old when she starred on Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana alongside her father, Billy Ray Cyrus.

With starring in Hannah Montana, Cyrus became a household name. Over the years, she is also regarded as one of the few child actors who’ve managed to have a successful musical career after outgrowing their child artist image.
Miley Cyrus stunned the world with her lead single Flowers | Miley Cyrus’ YouTube
Just like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift is also one of the artists who started her career at the age of 14, and with her hard work, dedication, and a few hiccups on the road, she has gone on to become one of the world’s best-selling artists.

Currently on her Eras Tour, Swift’s recent album, The Tortured Poets Department, achieved the highest single-day and single-week global stream for an album on Spotify. But there is one record that Swift’s discography has not been able to achieve, but Cyrus’ has.

Flowers’ co-writer Michael Pollack says Miley Cyrus’ greatest strength is her taste

The pop icon Miley Cyrus released her eighth studio album titled Endless Summer Vacation in March 2023, which was reportedly a shift from her synth-pop, rock, and glam rock to pop and dance-pop genres of music. The singer explained that the concept for the album was her affection for Los Angeles, where she recorded the album.
Miley Cyrus in Flowers | Miley Cyrus’ YouTube
Flowers was the lead single of the album which was followed by River and Jaded. But it was the lead single that broke records, as it spent eight weeks at the top of the US Billboard Hot 100. With the release of Flowers, Cyrus surpassed Harry Styles’ As It Was and Stay by Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI and became the fastest-ever artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify. At the time, Cyrus took to her social media to write a sweet thank you to the fans.

In an interview with Vogue India, the singer opened up about writing the song that resonated with billions:

I wrote it in a really different way. The chorus was originally, ‘I can buy myself flowers and write my name in the sand, but I can’t love me better than you can.’ It used to be more like the 1950s. The saddest song. Like, Sure, I can be my own lover, but you’re so much better.’ The song is a little fake until you make it, which I am a big fan of.

Her co-writer, Michael Pollack, explained in his conversation with Billboard that the idea for Flowers began with the word flowers, and it has been incredible to watch the reaction. He added that such a record is something one can dream of having their whole career, and he feels so grateful to be a part of it.

Talking about working with Miley Cyrus, he said that she has impeccable taste, which is her greatest strength. 

He revealed that the only line while working on Flowers where they were stuck was the pre-chorus (I didn’t want to leave you, I didn’t want to lie), adding that for them it was really important to contrast the empowerment of the chorus with a little bit of sadness and vulnerability.

In October 2023, with the release of Seven feat. Latto, BTS’ Jung Kook took over and became the fastest-ever artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify.

Flowers becomes the fastest female song to reach 2 billion streams on Spotify

Miley Cyrus’ Flowers not only became one of her biggest hits but also resonated with billions of her fans across the world.

The song’s lyrics expressed an ex-lover’s acceptance of being independent after no longer feeling the need to rely on someone else for her happiness.

The song is allegedly about her ex-husband, Liam Hemsworth, but it has not been confirmed officially.

Now, according to Pop Base’s X account, the song, which initially held the record for the fastest-ever artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify, has recorded 2 billion streams on Spotify. This makes Cyrus’ Flowers the fastest female song to reach the number one spot in the history of Spotify.
Miley Cyrus’ Flowers won Grammy for Record of the Year | Miley Cyrus’ YouTube
Fans called Flowers’s song of the decade’, with another user mentioning that it almost feels like the song came out yesterday. They noted that the song deserved the achievement it had.

The song of the decade

— Khalid (@khalidauad) May 28, 2024

https://twitter.com/EbisikeIj/status/1795476503687229750

Surprisingly, Taylor Swift’s songs have not been able to break this record. The Wrap reports that Swift’s Cruel Summer holds the record for 2 billion streams, but it took the song a couple of years to surpass 2 billion streams.

Swift’s Fortnight has 80 million, Down Bad has 44 million, and So Long London has 42 million streams on Spotify. The TTPD album has successfully crossed 1 billion streams on Spotify in a single week.

The music industry has been shaken to its core by a jaw-dropping revelation: even Taylor Swift — the global superstar whose Eras Tour has become a cultural phenomenon — will have to bow down to Miley Cyrus for a single, history-making achievement that has left all of Swift’s chart-topping tracks in the dust. In an era dominated by Taylor’s unrelenting reign over music, streaming, and touring, few could have predicted that Miley would deliver the one record that no one, not even Swift, could touch. But that’s exactly what has happened, and the numbers don’t lie.

The achievement in question is none other than Miley Cyrus’ global smash Flowers, a song that not only topped charts worldwide but also rewrote history on platforms like Spotify. Upon its release in January 2023, Flowers became the fastest song to surpass 100 million streams in a single week, smashing records that had once been thought untouchable. It was a watershed moment not only for Cyrus but for pop music itself, as fans and critics alike marveled at her ability to dominate a landscape saturated by Taylor Swift’s endless stream of hits.

For Taylor Swift fans, the numbers were hard to swallow. Swift has long been the queen of streaming, with albums like Midnights and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) delivering staggering numbers in their opening weeks. Yet Miley’s Flowers outpaced every one of those launches when it came to sheer streaming velocity. In a single week, Cyrus pulled off what Swift had never achieved — capturing lightning in a bottle with a heartbreak anthem that resonated across generations, countries, and platforms.

What made Miley’s accomplishment even more shocking was its context. For years, Taylor Swift has been the industry’s unstoppable juggernaut, meticulously planning releases, marketing strategies, and surprise announcements to ensure maximum cultural domination. Miley, on the other hand, released Flowers as part of a new chapter in her career, with minimal fanfare compared to the carefully orchestrated rollouts Swift is famous for. And yet, the world responded with an intensity no one could have predicted, streaming the song into the history books.

Fans point to the universality of Flowers as the key to its dominance. The song, widely interpreted as a post-breakup anthem directed at Liam Hemsworth, captured raw emotion in a way that connected deeply with listeners. Its chorus of independence and self-love became a rallying cry, shared endlessly on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Suddenly, everyone — from heartbroken teenagers to empowered adults — was blasting Flowers on repeat, turning it into more than just a hit. It became a cultural moment, one that eclipsed even Taylor’s carefully crafted lyrical narratives.

Critics also noted that Miley’s success was a testament to her resilience. After years of reinvention — from her Disney Channel roots to the controversy-laden Bangerz era, to her rock-inspired Plastic Hearts — Cyrus had finally delivered the song that cemented her status as not just a pop star, but a global icon. For once, she wasn’t competing in Taylor Swift’s shadow; she was setting a new standard that even Swift hadn’t reached. The symbolism of that was impossible to ignore.

The numbers are brutal in their clarity. Flowers not only broke Spotify’s record for the most streams in a week but went on to hold the title of Spotify’s most-streamed song in a single year — overtaking even the combined force of Swift’s sprawling discography. At a time when Taylor’s Eras Tour was breaking box office records and dominating headlines, Miley quietly stole the crown in the one arena Taylor had previously ruled without challenge: the streaming battlefield.

For Taylor Swift, whose career has been built on consistency and dominance, Miley’s achievement is a rare blemish on an otherwise flawless record. Swifties are quick to point out that Taylor remains unparalleled in other areas — from album sales to touring revenue — but even they admit that Miley’s Flowers is a towering, singular accomplishment that left their idol in second place. And in the cutthroat world of pop music, second place is never good enough.

Miley, however, has handled her victory with grace. She hasn’t gloated, hasn’t thrown shade, and hasn’t used her record-breaking success to diminish Taylor Swift. Instead, she’s let the numbers speak for themselves, confident that her work has etched her name in music history alongside the biggest legends of the industry. Fans admire her confidence and maturity, especially considering the years she spent fighting off criticism and constant comparisons to her peers.

In the end, Miley Cyrus’ Flowers is more than just a record-breaking track. It’s proof that even in an industry dominated by giants like Taylor Swift, there’s always room for surprises. It’s proof that a single song, at the right moment, with the right message, can cut through the noise and leave an indelible mark on the culture. And it’s proof that Miley Cyrus, often underestimated, has the power to not just compete with the biggest names in music — but to surpass them.

So yes, Taylor Swift may rule touring, album sales, and cultural longevity, but in this one remarkable category, she’ll have to bow down. Miley Cyrus holds the crown, and Flowers stands as the record-breaking anthem that even the Eras Tour queen couldn’t dethrone.