Author: djfrosty

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. 

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This week: Amanda Seyfried and her dulcimer help introduce a new generation to Joni Mitchell, while TikTok revives an ’00s southern rap cult favorite and makes new breakout hits for Ravyn Lenae and Sombr.

Amanda Seyfried’s Viral Joni Mitchell Cover Has Listeners Going to ‘California’

Did you know that Amanda Seyfried plays the dulcimer? You would if you watched her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier this month, as the Emmy-winning actress explained she picked up the lap-set fretted string instrument over the pandemic. She then performed a stunningly note-perfect cover of Joni Mitchell’s “California” – a homesick highlight from the singer-songwriter’s canonical 1971 album Blue, much of which was composed on the dulcimer  – for an enraptured Fallon and audience. 

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The clip unsurprisingly made headlines and quickly went viral, while also giving the original song a wave of TikTok momentum and sending younger audiences to revisit (or check out) the West Coast classic. For the tracking week ending March 13, Mitchell’s “California” amassed just over one million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate – up a massive 794% from just over 100,000 streams two weeks earlier, before the late-night clip aired. If film studios are looking to cast a lead for the eventual Joni Mitchell biopic – should be coming pretty soon after the success of A Complete Unknown, right? – Seyfried might have just nailed the audition. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Ravyn Lenae Snags Sleeper Hit With “Love Me Not” 

As guitar-led, pop/rock-inflected R&B songs like Janet Jackson’s “Someone to Call My Lover” continue to experience a resurgence across socials, some of that love is spreading to more contemporary tracks. Ravyn Lenae’s “Love Me Not,” a similarly bouncy guitar-based pop&B song about the ups and downs of romance, has emerged as the Chicago singer-songwriter’s breakout hit. 

According to Luminate, streams for “Love Me Not” have exploded nearly 120% over the past four weeks. On Feb. 7, Lenae shared a TikTok soundtracked by “Love Me Not” that played on feeling embarrassed over the man she wrote the song about. Lenae’s post came just as the song was naturally gaining traction on TikTok, easily becoming the most-viewed post on her profile with over 7.6 million views. During the week of Feb. 7-13, “Love” collected 1.86 million official on-demand U.S. streams, jumping 16% to over 2.15 million streams the following week (Feb. 14-20).  

On Feb. 16, Lenae shared a post featuring a mysterious arm around her – commenters think it’s Steve Lacy – that became her third-most viewed TikTok ever, with 5.3 million views. Four days later (Feb. 20), she shared another clip with the official “Love Me Not” sound, earning over 6.4 million views and becoming her second-most viewed TikTok ever. During the week of Feb. 21-27, streams for “Love” hit 2.7 million, up 26% from the week prior. 

By Feb. 27, Lenae shared yet another TikTok confirming that she’ll be opening up for Sabrina Carpenter’s new tour dates. Though she used “Espresso” in that clip, the post only helped her own profile and music earn more traction. During the week of Feb. 28-March 6, “Love Me Not” was up another 25%, collecting 3.42 million official on-demand U.S. streams. The following week (March 7-13), the song leapt a further 19% to over 4.08 million streams. Over on Spotify, the track currently ranks at No. 30 on the Viral 50 USA chart and at No. 1 as the most popular song on Lenae’s profile at the moment. 

More recently, as Lenae has shared more clips of her live performances of the song, some TikTok users are discovering that she is, in fact, a Black woman. It’s become such a phenomenon that Lenae addressed it herself! 

Last year, Billboard’s editorial staff named Bird’s Eye, which houses “Love Me Not,” the No. 3 best R&B album of 2024. The album didn’t chart upon debut – nor did any of its songs – but that could very well change should “Love” continue to grow. – KYLE DENIS

17-Year-Old Yung L.A. Song Experiences Money Spread-Led TikTok Revival 

Another week, another ‘00s rap song goes viral on TikTok. This week, it’s Yung L.A.’s “Ain’t I,” a collaboration with Yung Bro and T.I. that served as ATL MC’s debut single. 

At the top of March, TikTok user @lixanomerta shared a clip dancing to “Ain’t I,” that quickly evoked feelings of nostalgia from older Atlantans. Soon after, users started sharing clips from an old radio freestyle featuring Yung L.A. spitting “Ain’t I” a cappella and spreading a wad of crash. Taken by the apparent deterioration of his health, users made those clips go viral and eventually adapted the money spread into a mini-dance trend where users bop to the song before flaunting an obscene amount of cash (or weed baggies or fishing lures!). 

During the week of Feb. 21-27, “Ain’t I” earned just over 270,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. By the following week (Feb. 28-March 6), that figure jumped 19% to over 325,000 official streams. By March 7-13 – the same week the trend exploded on TikTok — streams for “Ain’t I” leapt a whopping 190% to over 946,000 official streams. Over the past two weeks, “Ain’t I” has risen nearly 250% in streaming activity. – KD

Sombr Is Sparkling on Streaming With ‘Back to Friends’ Breakout

If you’re loving the wave of Sad Girl Anthems taking over TikTok lately and wondering where all their Sad Boy counterparts are at – well, you just found one of ‘em, anyway. Sombr, otherwise known as 19-year-old, Atlantic-signed singer-songwriter Shane Boose, has been taking over the app in the last month with his new single “Back to Friends.” Extensively teased and then extensively promoted by Boose on TikTok – with multiple videos of him singing along to the song garnering millions of plays – the explosive post-breakup song (if it was ever an official relationship in the first place) has struck a nerve with its cathartic “How can we go back to being friends/ When we just shared a bed” chorus shoutalong. 

Now, the song is taking off on streaming. The song had been posting weekly official on-demand U.S. streams in the high six digits for most of 2025, but this month, that number has crossed into the millions – nearly 2.7 million for the most recent tracking week (ending March 13), a 160% gain from just two weeks earlier, according to Luminate. And as the song is only now starting to really break containment – it just made its first appearance on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart – Sombr is already onto the next one: His “Undressed” is due on Friday, and comes after an extensive TikTok rollout of its own. – AU