Despite initial excitement over the possibility of a band reunion, fans were gutted to learn that "R.E.M." was actually trending because it's a song on Ariana Grande's new album Sweetener.
See some of the hilariously angry reactions from R.E.M. fans on Twitter below.
R.E.M. trending. "Yay, reunion!", think thousands of Stipe-ists. Nope, it's just an Ariana Grande song.
— Simon Price (@simon_price01) August 17, 2018
Saw REM trending and thought, "Whoa! Really? Maybe new music from one of my favorite bands?????!!!!"
— Han Solo Rally Monkey (@jjnado) August 17, 2018
Then looked at why it was trending. pic.twitter.com/Fk7rIlWuLN
Damn, saw that R.E.M was trending and got excited about a reunion. It's a bloody song on a new Ariana Grande album or something.... pic.twitter.com/9CmdQ1wAPX
— Dean Paton (@DAPaton) August 17, 2018
I saw R.E.M. was trending. Got super excited that there might be a R.E.M. reunion of some sort. Instead its just a shitty Ariana Grande song... 😭
— Charlie Kane (@CharliePKane) August 17, 2018
Saw R.E.M is trending and got my hopes up for a reunion.. but nope.. pic.twitter.com/Hcr3dQTsqf
— Nick. (@NickSChandler) August 17, 2018
See R.E.M. trending and for a brief moment, I'm hopeful of a reunion album/tour from my fave band of all time. But nooooooooooooo, instead it's just some bubble-gum nonsense. Surely R.E.M. is copyrighted in terms of music? pic.twitter.com/doUSYZ1ixe
— Welshguy78 (@Welshguy_78) August 17, 2018
You see that R.E.M. is trending 😍
— Jonathan Savage (@JSavageTweets) August 17, 2018
You realise that it's not an @remhq reunion 😢
Some fans jumped the gun even further, seeing the trending topic and thinking the worst.
See's #REM is trending.
— Andrew McClure (@darkrock17) August 17, 2018
Nervously checks to see why.
See's it's not about the 80's/90's #AltRock band.
It's about #ArianaGrande instead.
Good to know #MichaelStipe hasn't died, all is good carry on. pic.twitter.com/Y7zEWdQ8Oq
As far as we know, frontman Michael Stipe is still alive and well, and having his art admired by Thom Yorke.
R.E.M. (the band) broke up back in 2011. So far, there have been a lot of reissues, but no plans to reunite.
"R.E.M." the song, meanwhile, was revealed to be Grande's favourite on her new LP. She voiced that opinion on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (August 16), which probably had something to do with the song trending on Twitter.
Order Grande's Sweetener fan box via Umusic here.