Will Bad Bunny’s ‘DtMF’ Be Able to Knock Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” from No. 1 on the Hot 100? 

The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Feb. 1, we look at whether the surging quasi-title track from Bad Bunny’s latest will be able to get over the top on the chart.  

Bad Bunny, “DtMF” (Rimas): It’s been a triumphant week for Bad Bunny on the Billboard 200, as the Puerto Rican superstar has topped the chart with his new album Debí Tirar Mas Fotos, a personal album largely inspired by the salsa and plena music of his home territory. Though the album debuted at No. 2 – behind Lil Baby’s WHAM – thanks in large part to the set’s release on a Sunday, already two days into the chart tracking week, it climbs to No. 1 this week with 203,500 equivalent album units earned in the U.S., according to Luminate, a staggering number for any album’s second week, showing how many people were still discovering the album following its unusually timed drop. 

Bunny would no doubt love to have the same thing happen with the set’s near-title track, “DtMF,” on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite appearing as the album’s penultimate track – number 16 out of 17 — and being something of a departure from Bad Bunny’s usual Latin trap-and-reggaetón-led sound, the song has exploded on streaming services, with fans attaching to its singalong chorus and sentimental lyrics, particularly on TikTok. It’s now pretty clearly the set’s biggest breakout hit, leaping from No. 38 all the way to No. 2 on this week’s Hot 100. 

The song’s explosive growth on streaming seems to be settling down a bit in its third week, though it continues to lead on both Apple Music’s real-time chart and Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart. What really might get in the way of it getting over the top on the Hot 100 is radio airplay: While the song is now being promoted to radio, its airplay has been fairly minimal so far, as the song still trails three other tracks on Fotos, led by advance single “El Clúb.” It’s hard to imagine the unconventionally structured, entirely Spanish-language song ever becoming a major fixture on U.S. top 40, but Bad Bunny might need at least a little radio love to edge out some of the radio-friendlier songs it’s going to be in competition with in the weeks to come – particularly the song currently topping the chart.  

Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile” (Streamline/Interscope/Atlantic/ICLG): Like Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” in 2024, the chances looked dicey at first for Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” to ever get to No. 1 – but now that it’s finally there, it might be sticking around for a little while. The song spends its third frame on top of the chart this week, while actually gaining in both streaming and sales, and remains in the top three of all three Hot 100 component charts: Radio Songs, Digital Song Sales and Streaming Songs.  

That combination could make “Smile” tough to unseat on the Hot 100 in the weeks to come. The song is even challenging to finally take over the No. 1 spot on Radio Songs – which would be its first week atop the listing, with “A Bar Song” having reigned for the past 25 weeks (one week away from tying The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” for the longest stay atop the chart). And if you’re looking for your early frontrunner for No. 1 on the 2025 year-end Hot 100, it’s gotta be Gaga and Bruno – an honor the latter hasn’t won since the Mark Ronson-led “Uptown Funk!” in 2015, and which the former has still yet to capture in her illustrious pop career.  

ROSÉ & Bruno Mars, “APT.” (Atlantic): Bruno Mars’ biggest competition for all-platform pop dominance this early year might of course come from himself. “APT.,” his collaboration with K-pop star and BLACKPINK alum ROSÉ, was already well on its way to breakout smash status in late 2024, and has only continued to grow well into 2025, reaching the Hot 100’s top five – proof not only of ROSÉ’s rising solo star in the U.S., but of Mars’ status as perhaps the single-most can’t-miss pop hitmaker on the entire planet right now.  

“APT.” leads on the Digital Song Sales chart for the first time this week, while slipping to No. 9 on Streaming Songs and climbing to No. 11 (after having previously peaked at No. 10) on Radio Songs. The latter chart of course remains its biggest opportunity for growth, as the song is not only challenging for top 10 again on the all-format Radio Songs, but for the No. 1 spot on Pop Airplay. If the song’s streaming performance settles a little in the weeks to come while it continues to spread out on the airwaves, we could very easily see a Bruno vs. Bruno battle at the top of the Hot 100 in the not-too-distant future. 

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