Tame Impala's 'Loser' Stalls at No. 2 Behind Its Own 'Dracula'

A Rare Chart Standoff: Tame Impala vs. Tame Impala

Tame Impala has landed in an unusual predicament that most acts would probably envy: the band is currently blocking itself from claiming additional No. 1 hits on several Billboard rankings. The culprit isn't a rival superstar crowding out the competition — it's Tame Impala's own back catalog. "Loser," the surging second single from the group's fifth album Deadbeat, has climbed to new career-high peaks of No. 2 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts, only to find another Kevin Parker production sitting directly above it: "Dracula," the project's smash collaboration with BLACKPINK's Jennie 11011.

It's a strange kind of success story. Rather than losing ground to a competing act, Tame Impala has essentially cornered the market on its own genre lanes, with "Loser" also holding steady at its No. 2 peaks on the Alternative Streaming Songs and Rock Streaming Songs charts 10.

"Loser"'s Improbable Second Life

"Loser" wasn't originally built as a chart contender. Released Sept. 3, 2025, as the second single from Deadbeat, it debuted modestly at No. 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 and largely faded from view 11. Its fortunes reversed dramatically after the song was featured in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which opened in theaters July 31, 2026 1314.

The film's impact on the track's numbers was immediate and steep. Billboard reported that "Loser" re-entered the Hot 100 at No. 46 with 6.3 million U.S. chart-eligible streams, 369,000 radio audience impressions and 1,000 downloads — a 1,155% jump in streaming from the prior tracking week 13. Comicbasics noted an even more dramatic figure tied to the film's opening weekend: a 456% surge in U.S. streams, part of what Spotify has dubbed the "Spider-Man Effect," a phenomenon that also revived older soundtrack staples like "Sunflower" from the Into the Spider-Verse franchise 16.

By the frame covered in Forbes' reporting, "Loser" had pushed further still, reaching No. 18 on the Hot 100, No. 16 on Rock & Alternative Airplay, No. 18 on Alternative Airplay, No. 3 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, and No. 8 on Streaming Songs. It also debuted at No. 35 on Adult Pop Airplay and No. 37 on Pop Airplay — Tame Impala's third career appearances on each of those pop-radio tallies 1011.

The song's international run has been just as forceful. Billboard documented an earlier vault from No. 51 to No. 5 on the Global 200 (a 72% streaming increase to roughly 30 million worldwide) and a climb from No. 66 to No. 6 on Global Excl. U.S., with non-U.S. streams up 79% to about 20 million 14. In Australia, "Loser" re-entered the ARIA Singles Chart at No. 11, a massive leap from its previous best of No. 95 215. It also topped Spotify's Daily Global chart, marking the project's first-ever No. 1 on that platform's worldwide ranking 16.

"Dracula": The Song Standing in the Way

The reason "Loser" can't clear the top spot is that another Deadbeat track already occupies it. "Dracula" began life as a solo Tame Impala single, becoming the project's first-ever Hot 100 entry when it debuted at No. 55 in October 2025 before climbing into the top 40 1120. Its trajectory changed again in February 2026 when a remix featuring Jennie arrived, catching fire on TikTok and pushing the song to No. 15 on the Hot 100 and No. 2 on the Global 200 1112.

That remix eventually powered "Dracula" to the summit of the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, along with the standalone Hot Rock Songs and Hot Alternative Songs rankings, dethroning sombr's "Back to Friends" after a 25-week nonconsecutive reign across all three 12. Billboard noted it marked the first time either Tame Impala or Jennie had led those charts, with the song logging 12 million official U.S. streams, 15.2 million radio impressions and 2,000 downloads in its coronation week 12. "Dracula" also extended its command of the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart to a 16th nonconsecutive week 12.

By the time "Loser" reached its own new peaks, "Dracula" was still No. 1 on six separate Billboard charts: Adult Pop Airplay, Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, Hot Rock Songs, Hot Alternative Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and Dance Streaming Songs. It had slipped only slightly, from No. 1 to No. 2, on Pop Airplay, while holding a career-best No. 16 on Adult Contemporary 1011.

Deadbeat's Broader Chart Footprint

Both songs stem from Deadbeat, released Oct. 17, 2025, as Tame Impala's first album in five years and its debut release for Columbia Records 717. The record made an immediate impact, opening at No. 1 on six Billboard charts — Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Alternative Albums, Top Dance Albums (a first for the act), Vinyl Albums and Indie Store Album Sales 17. It also reached No. 4 on the flagship Billboard 200, moving 70,000 equivalent units, including 38,000 in pure sales and a career-best 28,000 in vinyl sales 1718.

That Billboard 200 debut, while strong, fell just short of the project's career-best No. 3 showing with 2020's The Slow Rush, with Billboard's own staff noting Deadbeat held its own against new releases from Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Morgan Wallen and the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack 18.

A similar near-miss played out in Australia, where Deadbeat was kept off the top of the ARIA Albums chart by Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl, then in its third week at No. 1. Rolling Stone's Australian edition noted the disappointment of missing a third consecutive chart-topping album locally, while pointing out that all five Tame Impala albums have now debuted in the ARIA top five. Deadbeat still claimed No. 1 on the standalone Australian Albums and Vinyl charts 19.

A Movie Sync's Ripple Effect

The Spider-Man: Brand New Day connection extended beyond Tame Impala. Billboard reported that Steve Lacy's "Oh Yeah?," also featured in the film, debuted on the Hot 100 at No. 54 the same week "Loser" re-entered at No. 46 13. Weeks later, both songs ranked among the three biggest gainers on the Global 200, a chart-wide effect tied directly to the film's massive box-office run, which had cleared $2 billion globally within three weekends 14.

Career Context and the Critical Divide

What makes this moment notable is how it fits into Tame Impala's longer chart history. Despite more than a decade of recording and multiple Grammy nominations, "Dracula" was the project's first-ever Hot 100 entry 20. Kevin Parker had previously reached No. 1 only in narrower lanes — Adult Alternative Airplay with "Lost in Yesterday" and "Is It True" in 2020, and Alternative Airplay with the Justice collaboration "Neverender" 20. Deadbeat has since pushed the act into pop radio, the Hot 100 and global streaming charts in ways its earlier albums never did.

That commercial ascent hasn't been mirrored by unanimous critical praise. Coverage of the album's reception has been mixed, with some outlets highlighting its embrace of dance and house production as a bold evolution and others describing it as less distinctive than Parker's earlier work. The tension between Deadbeat's divided critical reputation and its outsized commercial performance underscores just how much of the album's momentum has been driven by factors outside traditional album-cycle promotion — a starpower collaboration, format-crossing radio adoption, and a blockbuster film sync that resurrected a nearly year-old single.

Life on the Road

The commercial surge has coincided with an expanding live presence. Tame Impala kicked off its Deadbeat Tour with a Brooklyn arena run in October 2025 and has continued to sell out major venues, including an 18,000-capacity show at Minneapolis's Target Center 4. The band has also announced a U.S. arena tour 8 and multiple European and UK dates stretching into 2026 and 2027, with Wet Leg confirmed as support on the later leg and the show format built around presenting Deadbeat "in the round" 369.

Taken together, the current chart snapshot captures an act at an unusual inflection point: a project long defined by critical respect and steady, mid-tier commercial success has suddenly become potent enough across radio, streaming and sales to challenge itself for the top spot on multiple rankings — proof that, at least for now, Tame Impala's biggest competition is Tame Impala.