Sexyy Red’s ‘SkeeYee’ Crowns Inaugural TikTok Billboard Top 50 Chart
Written by djfrosty on September 14, 2023
The initial TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart, dated Sept. 16, features Sexyy Red’s rising hit “SkeeYee” as the tally’s first No. 1.
The TikTok Billboard Top 50, announced Thursday (Sept. 14), is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the U.S., based on creations, video views and user engagement. The maiden chart reflects activity from Sept. 4-10.
“SkeeYee,” which follows Sexyy Red’s breakthrough hit “Pound Town 2” (with Tay Keith and Nicki Minaj), reigns amid its notable prominence on TikTok over the past few weeks. Released in June, the song was initially aided by a trend in which users whipped their hair during the St. Louis rapper’s “skeeyee” ad lib, although many of the uploads to date have utilized the song in general videos, whether for comedy clips or otherwise.
Concurrently, “SkeeYee” bows at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Sept. 16. In the Sept. 1-7 tracking week, the song drew 6.5 million radio audience impressions (up 55%) and 6.2 million official streams (up 29%) and sold 1,000 downloads (up 28%) in the U.S., according to Luminate. (The Hot 100 blends streaming, radio airplay and sales data, incorporating streaming platforms including Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube and more; for Billboard chart purposes, activity on TikTok is reflected solely on the TikTok Billboard Top 50.)
Sexyy Red boasts four songs on the inaugural TikTok Billboard Top 50, with “SkeeYee” followed by “Looking for the Hoes (Ain’t My Fault)” (No. 19), MCVERTT’s “Face Down,” on which she’s featured with Ferg (No. 27), and “Mad at Me” (No. 50). That’s the second-most appearances of any act on the chart; a leading six Taylor Swift songs infuse the first survey.
“I am so excited that so many of my songs are charting on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart,” Sexyy Red tells Billboard. “I always knew I would be a No. 1 type of artist, so I want to thank all my fans on TikTok for running my music up! I’m just being me on TikTok and people love it.”
Swift charts highest with her 2020 Folklore cut “August” at No. 3. Its high rank is concurrent not only with the end of August, but also general momentum in streaming for the song, which reached No. 23 on the Hot 100, following its first week of release in August 2020. It placed in the top 10 of Billboard’s Alternative Streaming Songs chart last month for the first time since 2020, and has risen as high as No. 3 (Aug. 19), spending the last three frames at No. 5.
Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red,” which ascends to No. 1 on the Hot 100, ranks at No. 2 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50. Released in early August, it debuted at No. 15 on the Hot 100 dated Aug. 19 and has gained since sparked, in part, by TikTok usages, including viral dance choreography set to its chorus.
“Go!” by Greg Cipes, Scott Menville, Khary Payton, Tara Strong and Hyden Welch is No. 4 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50. Superhero and animation fans may recognize the song as the theme to Teen Titans Go! to the Movies, the 2018 film spinoff of Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans Go!, performed by its voice cast. Many of its uploads utilize a “Hoodtrap Remix” from ProdByTTK, with some users adding animations of certain features of the Teen Titans characters set to each of their verses.
Rounding out the first TikTok Billboard Top 50’s top five, Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything” featuring Kacey Musgraves ranks at No. 5. Many TikTok videos spotlighting the song, from Bryan’s new self-titled album, are set to the lyric “I wish I didn’t, but I do/ Remember every moment on the nights with you,” with some users recalling past relationships.
The 50-position list doesn’t include only newly released or mostly modern songs. At No. 10 is Dazz Band’s “Let It Whip,” a No. 5 Hot 100 hit in summer 1982. The electrofunk track sports a resurgence more than 40 years later driven by a dance challenge featuring the song in which users try to emulate majorette-style dancing.
See the inaugural TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart here, and click on each entry to be sent to the TikTok sound page to learn more about what’s fueling each hit.