The South American successes continued. In Mexico he sang Bréton's La Dolores staged inside the bullring El Coso de la Condesa to thousands of spectators, for which he received the incredible amount of 50.000 pesos gold. South America was living the segregation between the "Fletistas," the supporters of Fleta, as opposed to the "Lazaristas," the supporters of Lázaro, and Fleta, now almost deified by the South American audience, was heavily threatening Lázaro's position as the most popular tenor on the pacific continent. Fleta did further successful appearances throughout Cuba January 1923, before returning to Madrid and London, where he once more recorded for Gramophone in March. June had him returning to Argentina and the Colón of Buenos Aires where he was hired for Manon, I Compagnacci by Riccitelli and la Sonnambula in July. He kept appearing in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil throughout August and September, but was called to New York for the month of October.

Miguel Fleta was 26 and about to debut at one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world, the Met in New York. Gigli, Martinelli and Lauri-Volpi had all left Italy and La Scala for the Met, where they enjoyed divo status and ditto salaries. Fleta debuted on the 8th of November with Tosca, followed by Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz on the 15th. During the season of 1923-24 he performed at the Met in Rigoletto, Pagliacci, Tosca, La Bohème and Andrea Chénier, with occasional performances in Philadelphia.

Then finally in 1924 he debuted at La Scala after a controversial rehearsal of Rigoletto, where he had argued with Toscanini himself concerning the cadenza to La donna e mobile. Apart from Rigoletto, Fleta also performed in Carmen and Tosca before returning to Madrid in March for his third season with the Teatro Real. In Madrid he also received the Order of Alfonso XII, granted by King Alfonso XIII.

Late July that year he parted on his third trip to the American continent and added Alfredo of La Traviata to his repertory in August at the Teatro Colon. The reception in Argentina was ecstatic; Rio de Janeiro trembled and Santiago de Chile fell to its knees and Fleta's popularity rose to the dimensions of giving his name to shirts, shoes, hats - whatever. From South America he headed towards La Habana, Cuba, and finally New York, where he participated in a gala in honour of Puccini, performed in La Boheme and added Les Contes d'Hoffmann to his repertory. He was never to appear at the Met again.

Fleta was in fact scheduled to perform at the Met for further two more seasons (1925-27), but influenced by his Spanish agent he signed with the Teatro Apolo in Madrid and told the Met management that he was due for Military Service in Spain. The management at the Met disclosed the lie upon examining the excuse with the Spanish Government and initiated a lawsuit against Fleta that was to last for three years and resulting in a considerable fine for Fleta.

Meanwhile, Fleta initiated an exhausting year (1925) starting with a series of performances in Madrid before embarking on a tour throughout Spain with great success in Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla, Granada, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Huesca and Burgos, plus a short visit to Portugal for appearances in Lisboa and Oporto. In some weeks he performed daily in La Boheme, Aida, Tosca and Carmen, despite the obvious risk of damaging his instrument and a slowly emergent fatigue. Fleta was at his peak, the audiences loved him and he turned into the pride of the Nation.⁵

Perhaps his greatest success and recognition came with the world premiere of Puccini's Turandot at La Scala, presented posthumously and left unfinished by the composer, on 25 April 1926. The conductor was Toscanini and he had chosen Fleta to create the role of Calaf, Fleta thus snatching the role from Aureliano Pertile, Toscanini's alleged favourite tenor at La Scala, and Beniamino Gigli, who suposedly had been the tenor for which Puccini had created the role.⁶

Curiously enough, he had yet not appeared at the Liceu in Barcelona, and expectations were high as the Liceu proclaimed that Fleta would sing in Carmen during the month of October (1926). He debuted on November 5th 1926, it was the first time ever in Spain an opera performance was transmitted live by radio, and all other theaters of the city of Barcelona interupted their sessions in order to connect with the Liceu for Fleta's Aria di Fiore. The success was clamorous and repeated itself at Fleta's debut in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Liceu on December 14 1926. At the moment of the famous Racconto in the third act, the audience burst into a clamorous frenzy and begged the aria to be encored, somewhat unusual in the history of that opera.

In May 1927 he remarries after a short separation from Luisa Pierrick, and travels to Argentina with his new wife, Carmen Mirat, where he combines his honeymoon with the fourth tour of America, with appearances in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio and New York. He tends to cater for the Zarzuela repertory more and more.