Prisoner

Miley Cyrus Featuring Dua Lipa: "Prisoner" — Release History and Billboard Performance

"Prisoner," the collaboration between Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa released in November 2020, arrived at a moment of significant artistic reinvention for Cyrus and escalating global stardom for Lipa. The track served as the second single from Cyrus's album Plastic Hearts, a project that represented a dramatic departure from her previous musical direction, trading the hip-hop and electronic influences of her Bangerz and Younger Now era for a hard rock and glam aesthetic that drew explicitly on the influences of artists like Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, and Debbie Harry. The combination of Cyrus's rock-oriented reinvention and Lipa's peak commercial moment produced a track that generated significant streaming and chart activity despite the limitations of the global pandemic release environment.

Dua Lipa's commercial trajectory in 2020 had been extraordinary. Her album Future Nostalgia, released in March 2020, became one of the defining pop albums of the pandemic year, with singles including "Don't Start Now," "Physical," and "Levitating" achieving extended chart runs across multiple international markets. By the time "Prisoner" was released in November 2020, Lipa had accumulated an unbroken string of chart successes that made her one of the most commercially potent featuring artists any pop act could add to a track. Her presence on "Prisoner" was not merely a collaboration of equals but a significant commercial endorsement.

"Prisoner" was released on November 27, 2020, as part of the Plastic Hearts album. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart dated December 5, 2020, entering at number 54, which represented its peak position across the entire chart run. The trajectory in subsequent weeks showed the characteristic rapid descent of a track that achieves its peak in the first week through album streaming activity rather than through sustained radio promotion: number 59 on December 12, number 68 on December 19, and number 94 on December 26 before a modest recovery to number 81 on January 2, 2021.

The total chart run of 12 weeks on the Hot 100 indicated sustained streaming activity beyond the initial album release burst, reflecting the combined fanbases of both Cyrus and Lipa continuing to engage with the track over the holiday period and into the new year. The December release window was advantageous in some respects, as the holiday period traditionally generates elevated streaming activity, but it also meant the track competed with holiday-themed content and the general compression of music release attention that occurs in the final weeks of the calendar year.

The production of "Prisoner" was handled by Andrew Watt, who had been a central collaborator in shaping the rock-influenced sonic direction of Plastic Hearts. Watt, whose production credits include work with Ozzy Osbourne, Post Malone, and other artists across rock and pop genres, brought a guitar-centric production approach that gave the track its distinctive 1980s-influenced rock texture. The prominent guitar work, driving rhythm section, and anthemic structure created a sound that was simultaneously nostalgic and contemporary, referencing the classic rock and new wave aesthetics that Cyrus had cited as inspiration while remaining sonically current enough to function on streaming playlists targeting younger listeners.

The music video for "Prisoner" was directed and featured visual aesthetics consistent with the Plastic Hearts campaign's overall imagery, drawing on the glam rock visual tradition with elements of rebellious theatricality that had characterized the genre's peak commercial era. The video accumulated 125 million YouTube views, reflecting sustained engagement driven by the combined YouTube audiences of both artists and by the broader conversation around Cyrus's rock reinvention as a cultural narrative that attracted press attention beyond the typical promotional cycle.

Radio reception for "Prisoner" was more limited than its streaming performance. The track received airplay on alternative and rock radio formats consistent with the Plastic Hearts campaign's targeting, but the absence of significant pop radio activity limited the airplay contribution to the Hot 100 methodology. This characteristic of the song's commercial performance reflected the niche nature of rock radio relative to pop radio in the streaming era, where formats that had once been commercially dominant had contracted to smaller but still commercially meaningful audiences.

Internationally, the collaboration performed more strongly than its US chart position might suggest. In the United Kingdom, Australia, and several European markets where both Cyrus and Lipa had strong commercial footholds, the track reached chart positions more reflective of the combined commercial weight of its two performers. Lipa's particularly strong European market presence contributed to the international streaming numbers that made the track a global commercial event even in markets where its specific Hot 100 position was modest.

The Grammy Awards cycle for 2020 eligibility recognized Plastic Hearts with nominations that reflected the critical engagement with Cyrus's artistic reinvention, though "Prisoner" itself was not among the most nominated tracks. The album's overall critical reception was positive, with reviewers noting that the rock direction represented a more authentic expression of Cyrus's musical identity than some of her previous stylistic positions. Within that context, "Prisoner" was frequently cited as evidence that the rock direction could generate genuine commercial traction alongside strong artistic credibility.