The first trailer of Rockstar’s highly anticipated action game Grand Theft Auto 6 was released on December 5, 2023. The video, which reached a record number of views, significantly increased the popularity of musician Tom Petty’s song “Love Is a Long Road”.
The song, from the late artist’s 1989 album Full Moon Fever, was streamed 36,979% more on Spotify compared to the week before the trailer was released. Accordingly, YouTube viewing numbers began to rise rapidly.
Second reference to Petty
As if including just one Petty song in the trailer wasn’t enough, Rockstar also made another reference to the singer by using a “Petty Forever” sticker in one of the scenes. Tom Petty died of a heart attack in 2017.
Love Is a Long Road isn’t Petty’s first song you’ll hear in the GTA series. “Runnin’ Down a Dream” was playing on the rock radio in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Unfortunately, the track was removed from later versions of the game due to license expiration.
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