SpongeBob SquarePants’ “Sweet Victory” Streams Soar Post-Super Bowl

The Super Bowl proved awfully underwhelming this year, in no small part because of the banal presence of Adam “I’m Covered In Tattoos So I Have A Personality” Levine. Not only that, but the halftime show also only made a small reference to the legendary SpongeBob Squarepants Bubble Bowl performance of “Sweet Victory” in tribute to the cartoon’s late creator, Stephen Hillenburg. A clip of the “Bank Geeks” episode played as an intro to Travis Scott’s “SICKO MODE.”

“Sweet Victory,” a collaborative effort between Giuffria’s David Glen Eisley (who also voiced SpongeBob for the song) and guitarist/producer Bob Kulick, has experienced an upswing post-Super Bowl, though, as THR reports. On Super Bowl Sunday and the day after, Nielsen Music reports that on-demand streaming of the triumphant anthem via audio and video rose by a whopping 566 percent in the U.S. On Feb. 3 and 4 combined, “Sweet Victory” streams leapt to 310,000, up from 46,000 on Feb. 1 and 2.

Israel Colunga was an early champion of adding “Sweet Victory” to the halftime show, starting a Change.org petition that climbed to over one million signatures. And let it be known that Paste wanted SpongeBob onstage, as well. After all, “Sweet Victory” feels like a more appropriate performance for the proverbial big game than literally anything in Maroon 5’s catalog.

Watch “Sweet Victory” below and try not to shed a tear or two.