Photo Credit: Roblox
Bruno Mars smashes Roblox’s virtual concert viewing records with 12.8 million concurrent players attending his “Steal a Brainrot” performance.
On Saturday, January 17, over 12.8 million concurrent users logged into Roblox to catch Bruno Mars’ virtual concert in the hit minigame Steal a Brainrot. Fans also had the chance to collect Bruno-themed traits and a limited edition Bruno brainrot character.
So what exactly is Steal a Brainrot? If you’re still catching up, in the context of Roblox, “brainrot” refers to a popular trend of memes featuring absurd AI-generated characters. The term “brainrot” itself is internet slang for mindless, addictive content that “rots” your brain through repetition. But in Roblox, the concept has been gamified into a collectible, Pokemon-esque experience.
Bruno Mars was the first artist to appear in Steal a Brainrot, which only launched in May 2025, but has quickly become one of the biggest games in Roblox history. Mars appeared as a virtual avatar and performed his new single, “I Just Might.” Fans were also given the chance to collect Bruno-themed items and a limited edition “Brunito Marsito” brainrot character.
The event peaked with 12,862,161 concurrent users, with over 53 million views on related social media content originating from 38-plus countries in 20 languages. Over 10 million viewers watched livestreams from 14 countries in nine languages. Overall, Roblox has seen a 70% year-over-year increase in daily active users, recorded as of the end of September at 151.5 million globally.
Previously, Bruno Mars was named as Epic Games’ Fortnite Festival Season 9 icon last year, following Sabrina Carpenter’s Season 8 appearance.
Mars’ Roblox event comes on the heels of the artist selling 2.1 million tickets in a single day for his upcoming stadium tour—securing the highest single-day sales in Live Nation history across North America, Europe, and the UK. He also set a new Ticketmaster record for the most tickets sold in a single day.
