Stranger Things Fan Favorite Dethrones Taylor Swift

Posted by Jonathan Klotz | Published 21 seconds ago

Taylor Swift has had an amazing 2025 with the release of her latest album, Show Girl Life, which dominated the charts for months. Until Stranger Things Season 5 hit, and social media caught on that everyone’s favorite Hawkins resident, Steve, is a singer. Joe Keery, the man who turned Steve from a hated boyfriend in Season 1 into a fan favorite, performs under the name Djo, and his song “The First End” is from his 2022 album. Decideclaimed the top spot on the Spotify charts with 1,427,344 daily streams.

Joe Keery’s Big Moment

“The Fate of Ophelia” topped the chart for 72 days, which is not surprising since the album it came from was the best-selling album of 2025. Joe Keery, like Taylor Swift, who writes his own songs, has never recorded any music chart in his career. Specifically choosing to play by the name Djo to keep his two careers separate, Keery has learned just how passionate he is. Stranger Things fandom has evolved since his small role 9 years ago exploded into a career-defining career.

Keery went solo in the band Party Animal in 2018 when his acting career took off, and since then, he has released three albums, including his latest, The Cruxnominated for the 2026 Grammys for Best Album Cover. Keery plays primarily in psychedelic rock, but, in keeping with his 80s-based background, there is a lot of synthwave influence throughout his music. The disjointed opener “Chateau (Feel Alright)” sounds like it’s from a different decade, while “Lonesome Is A State of Mind” is a stripped-down ballad.

Stranger Things Filled Musicians

Joe Keery’s musical success did not begin Strange things, but ardent fans have certainly changed his career. He’s not even the only singer in the cast: Finn Wolfhard was in the band Calpurnia and is now in the duo, The Aubreys, and Gaten Matazerro was a Broadway star before playing Dustin (and yes, he was singing. The Neverending Story in Season 3), and Caleb McLaughlin has never shown his singing ability as Lucas, but he has released two singles, “Neighbourhood” and “Soul Travel” since 2022.

Like Keery, Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers) was first a musician, a drummer in his case, before turning to acting. Not to be outdone, Maya Hawke and Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna) have also released many albums inspired by folk music. Even Sadie Sink, like Gaten and Caleb, has a Broadway background, and is prominent in the post-apocalyptic rock-musical. O’Dessa. Finally, David Harbor may not be a singer, but he also played a major role in his classic album, Lilly Allen’s 2025, West End Girl.

Someone was going to knock Taylor Swift to the top of the Spotify charts at some point, but no one would have guessed it would be Joe Keery. With Stranger Things in the end, the sky is the limit for actors, and it won’t be surprising if most of them turn to their music careers after spending a long time focusing on acting. As for Taylor Swift, she’ll be fine.