Alysa Liu won the Olympic gold medal in women’s figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics on February 19th, skating a free program to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park Suite” — and within hours, the 1978 disco classic was climbing back onto the U.S. iTunes chart and surging across Spotify.
Liu’s score of 226.79 points made her the first American woman to win Olympic figure skating gold since 2002. But for her legion of devoted followers — who have tracked her journey from teenage prodigy to Olympic champion across every platform — the performance was more than a sporting triumph. It was the moment her story finally had its soundtrack, and they made sure the rest of the internet knew it.
Spotify confirmed to Forbes that Summer’s full catalog saw a sharp streaming surge in the hours immediately following Liu’s performance in Milano-Cortina. The spike wasn’t limited to “MacArthur Park Suite” alone — listeners drawn in by the Olympic moment explored Summer’s broader discography, a pattern increasingly common when classic tracks are featured in high-profile sports broadcasts. Chart-monitoring account ChartData reported that “MacArthur Park” entered the U.S. iTunes top 10 following Liu’s win, and Newsweek described the renewed attention as a posthumous gift for the late singer, whose music is now reaching listeners who were not yet born when the original track topped the charts in 1978. Given the size and enthusiasm of Liu’s fanbase, which has amplified her every competitive milestone with a consistency few athletes in any sport can match, the speed of that surge was perhaps less surprising than it first appeared.
The story behind Liu’s song choice adds another layer to the revival. She first skated to “MacArthur Park Suite” in the 2024–25 season at the suggestion of her coach, Phillip DiGuglielmo, and choreographer Massimo Scali, who felt the track’s combination of emotional range and driving rhythm was well-suited to showcasing her power and musicality. She used the same program to win the 2025 World Championships, then briefly experimented with a Lady Gaga medley for the Olympic season before returning to Donna Summer — a decision her fans debated closely online before ultimately rallying behind with characteristic intensity. The suite’s arc, moving from orchestral melancholy into full disco intensity, mirrored her own competitive journey: Liu stepped away from skating at 16 following the 2022 Beijing Olympics, returned to competition in 2024, won the World title in 2025, and arrived in Italy as one of the gold medal favorites.
Originally written by Jimmy Webb and recorded as a sweeping disco epic by Donna Summer in 1978, “MacArthur Park Suite” runs approximately sixteen minutes in its full form. For competition use, Liu’s team trimmed and structured the piece to meet ISU time requirements while preserving its dramatic arc. Broadcasters and sports outlets noted that the choice was unusually bold for a discipline where classical music remains dominant. NBC Olympics highlighted the way the program’s emotional shifts mirrored Liu’s career story, while The Sporting News published a dedicated explainer on the song’s history and meaning — a sign that Liu’s reach now regularly pulls general audiences into corners of culture, whether figure skating technique or disco history, they might not have otherwise explored.
Liu’s impact on Summer’s streaming numbers fits a broader pattern in which major sporting events drive sudden, significant spikes for older catalog music — but the role of her fanbase in sustaining that momentum is worth noting. Where a typical Olympic viewing spike might fade within days, Liu’s followers have a track record of keeping her content circulating long after the moment itself has passed. Social media clips of her program on Instagram and YouTube have continued to funnel viewers toward the track, feeding algorithmic recommendations on streaming platforms in the days since the gold medal performance. Whether “MacArthur Park Suite” sustains its chart presence beyond the immediate Olympic window remains to be seen — but what the data already shows is that a single four-minute performance, scored, judged, and broadcast to a global audience, was enough to make a 1978 Donna Summer recording feel urgently, undeniably current again.