U.K. Rapper EsDeeKid Propelled by Timothée Chalamet Rumors to Billboard 200 Debut

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.

This week: Rumored similarities to an Oscar-nominated actor helps a U.K. rapper break out stateside, while a video game synch turns around a singer-songwriter’s prospects and a likely AI-assisted Charlie Kirk tribute goes viral.

English Rapper EsDeeKid Turns Timothée Chalamet Conspiracy Theory Into Massive Streaming Gains 

Timothée Chalamet may be hard at work on the Oscar campaign trail for his upcoming Marty Supreme film, but some fans think he’s secretly balancing a second artistic career. 

After breaking through in 2024 with the Rico Ace-assisted “Bally,” enigmatic Liverpool rapper EsDeeKid — who conceals his identity and sports a balaclava — has found a streaming breakthrough as 2025 draws to a close. On Nov. 11, user @gothauntie0 posted a TikTok positing the theory that EsDeeKid is actually Timothée Chalamet; though it’s all speculation and her evidence is purely circumstantial, the theory quickly took off across social media, spurring new listeners to familiarize themselves with his music. 

During the week of Nov. 7-13 (when the conspiracy theory first popped up), EsDeeKid’s catalog earned over 5.8 million official on-demand streams, according to Luminate. The following week (Nov. 14-20), that figure jumped 54% to over 9.005 million official streams. Over the past three weeks, the underground rapper’s catalog has exploded over 145% in streaming activity — which helped his debut album, June’s Rebel, enter the Billboard 200 for the first time at No. 131 (on the chart dated Nov. 29). 

“4 Raws” and “Phantom” are two of the set’s buzziest tracks. During the week of Nov. 14-20, the former collected over 3 million official on-demand U.S. streams (up 56% over the past three weeks), while the latter earned 2.98 million streams (up 53% over the past three weeks). On Halloween (Oct. 31), EsDeeKid dropped “Century,” which earned 1.68 million streams during Nov. 14-20, marking a two-week gain of 156%. 

Neither EsDeeKid nor Timothée Chalamet have commented on the matter — but, for now, their silence is golden. — KYLE DENIS 

Bershy’s Video Game-Featured “Radio” Turns on a Career Revival

“Two weeks ago i didn’t really think i’d make music again,” Cincinnati singer-songwriter Bershy (real name: Brea Shay) admitted in an Instagram post last week. But things have turned around for her, as her post was celebrating the recent success of her 2022 synth-pop love song “Radio” — which has been enjoying an overdue viral moment after being featured in the hit new “superhero workplace comedy” adventure video game Dispatch.

The disconcertingly catchy song is featured in an “episode six” housewarming party scene within the game, which begins with the lead character Robert cueing the song (with visible name and cover art) on his phone. Since the Nov. 5 release of the episode, the song has absolutely exploded on streaming, with the song zooming from under 2,000 streams a week to nearly 1.9 million streams for the tracking week ending Nov. 9, according to Luminate.

“Get ready, Bershy,” the official YouTube account of AdHoc Studio — the developer responsible for Dispatch — posted in the comments for the “Radio” music video. Indeed, it seems like she might have to putting those putting-the-career-on-hold plans on hold and tune in to her newfound virality. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Seemingly AI-Generated Charlie Kirk Tribute Song Takes Streaming by Storm 

A Charlie Kirk tribute song has quickly gone viral on TikTok — but people are laughing at the track’s seemingly AI-generated vocals more than they’re earnestly singing along. 

Titled “We Are Charlie Kirk,” the song popped up on streaming on Sept. 16, just six days after its namesake was shot and killed. Spaxelma, an apparently AI-generated act with no social media presence, is behind the track, in addition to several faith-based albums (and a Charlie Kirk Forever Alive tribute album) that date back to May 2024.

During the four-day period of Nov. 14-17, “We Are” earned 56,000 official on-demand steams. A week later (Nov. 21-24), the abrasive torch song leapt 656% to over 423,000 streams. The most popular “We Are” TikTok sound, which appeared on the platform the same day the song hit streaming with the caption “this is genuinely the worst song I’ve ever f—king heard in my life bro,” boasts over 62,000 posts. Currently, “We Are Charlie Kirk” is the only Spaxelma release to surpass one million Spotify streams. 

The longevity of Spaxelma’s breakthrough “hit” remains to be seen, but it looks like Tom MacDonald may have some competition cut out for him. — K.D.