On June 18, 2023, the submersible Titan was exploring the wreckage of the Titanic when it lost contact with its surface ship and went missing. After days of search-and-rescue operations in the North Atlantic Ocean to bring up the five-person sub, the company behind the expedition declared that the entire crew was believed to have died.
Internet rumormongers began drawing links between the submersible accident and the famed 1997 movie depiction of the Titanic shipwreck, with its popular song "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion.
On June 22, 2023, a Twitter user @TheKing0f_Pop claimed, "My Heart Will Go On" "received (7.8M) streams on Spotify, and [entered] the billboard top 100 at #12 after the submarine mishap." Other social media accounts made similar claims.
(@TheKing0f_Pop/Twitter)
This is not true. We looked at the Billboard Global 200 dated for June 22, 2023, and found Dion's song did not even make the list. Number 12 on the list was "Last Night" by Morgan Wallen.
The Billboard Hot 100 for the week of June 24, 2023, also did not include the song. Number 12 on the list was "Anti-Hero" by Taylor Swift.
We also looked at Spotify's global ranking of top songs playlist for the week of June 22, 2023, and did not find Dion's ballad on the list. It was also not on the U.S. rankings for that week either.
The song was also not among the U.S. top 200 daily songs lists on June 19, June 20, June 21, or June 22. Spotify's Global top 200 daily songs lists on June 19, June 20, June 21, or June 22, also yielded no results for "My Heart Will Go On."
"My Heart Will Go On" has been streamed more than 460 million times since it has been on the platform, according to Spotify's data, but it is impossible that it was streamed more than 7 million times in the last week given that the song did not break into any of the top 200 lists. The songs at the bottom of the global list have been streamed more than 7 million times, while those at the bottom of the U.S. list have been streamed almost 2 million times. Dion has 13,399,297 monthly listeners according to Spotify and "My Heart Will Go On" is the most highly streamed song as of this writing.
Even though Dion's song is still very popular, it is not among the top songs globally or in the U.S., either on the Billboard charts or on Spotify during the week of June 22, 2023. Even though the submersible accident has generated comparisons with the film and its famous song, any claims that the song has been more popular because of the accident are "False."