Grand Theft Auto's GTA 6 Trailers Turn Tom Petty and The Pointer Sisters Into Chart Hits

The GTA 6 reveal trailer in 2023 shattered YouTube records with over 90 million views in 24 hours, but its cultural impact extended far beyond the game itself. Tom Petty's 'Love Is a Long Road', featured as the backing track, experienced an unprecedented surge in streams. The song jumped from averaging 4,000-5,000 streams before the trailer to close to 400,000 in the days that followed. Spotify later reported a 37,000% increase in global streams, while the track was Shazamed nearly a quarter of a million times and cracked the global top 20.

The second GTA 6 trailer proved equally influential. 'Hot Together' by The Pointer Sisters saw a 182,000% spike in streams following its inclusion in the footage. These massive spikes demonstrate how Rockstar Games' platform reaches audiences traditional music marketing cannot.

Rockstar has leveraged the GTA franchise's reach to become a significant musical tastemaker. By 2018, players had listened to more than an estimated 75 billion minutes of music across GTA 5 and GTA Online's radio stations. With 18.3 million monthly active users throughout 2025, the franchise maintains long-term influence over cultural trends and artist discovery. The radio station mechanic creates a unique interactive relationship between players and music that differs from passive exposure in film or advertising.

GTA 5 features 777 licensed songs, the most of any game in the series. The soundtrack spans both established hits and obscure tracks. Modjo's 'Lady (Hear Me Tonight)', a 2001 UK number one, reached a new generation through its inclusion on Non Stop Pop FM. Romain Tranchart from Modjo noted that many GTA players were not born when the song originally released. He observed: "If you take a look at the YouTube comments under our music video, the bond between the song and this iconic video game is obvious."

Artist Ab-Soul, whose track 'ILLuminate' featuring Kendrick Lamar appears on Radio Los Santos in GTA 5, described the impact as transformative. "The impact was tremendous. Especially considering that my style is unconventional for west coast radio. It allowed me to remain comfortable in my skin as an artist and continue to grow, unapologetically," he said. He added: "Being that GTA is culturally stamped and globally influential, having a hand in the game etches you in history."

The franchise's influence mirrors film's ability to revive songs. When Nirvana's 'Something in the Way' appeared in The Batman trailer and film, Spotify streams increased 1,200%, climbing from 123,000 daily streams to 1.6 million on March 8.

Licensing payments have sparked controversy. In September 2024, Martyn Ware from Heaven 17 revealed that Rockstar offered the band $22,500 total for three songwriters to license their 1983 hit 'Temptation', covering all future royalties. The band declined the offer. Despite such disputes, Rockstar continues to shape pop culture through its curation of both legendary artists and emerging talent.