Chart Beat
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Pop and R&B/hip-hop superstar Beyoncé made a surprise announcement during Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, releasing two tracks noticeably different in sound from the bulk of her catalog: “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages.”
The former is officially being promoted to country radio, as announced in a Columbia Nashville email to stations Feb. 14 at 11 a.m. ET, and arrives as Beyoncé’s first entry on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated Feb. 24), starting at No. 54 with 1.1 million in audience via 100 stations at the format in the tracking week ending Feb. 15.
The Country Airplay survey reflects songs’ audience impressions on nearly 150 U.S country radio stations as monitored by Mediabase and provided to Billboard by Luminate.
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“We immediately added it a sub-power rotation, which is where we put top-trending new music,” Alpha Media-owned KBAY San Jose, Calif., program director Bo Matthews tells Billboard of “Texas Hold ‘Em.” “I want people to hear it. One of the biggest artists in the world delivered a great country record for us to have fun with, and the song is really good. We are in the business of creating excitement for our listeners and I’m embracing the moment. Plus, there is plenty of room for great artists, even from other genres. It’s a big country tent.”
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Beyoncé has banked eight No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and seven No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 as a soloist, starting in 2003. Plus, Destiny’s Child, with her as a member, logged four leaders on the Hot 100 and two on the Billboard 200, beginning in 1999.
As a soloist, Beyoncé boasts 12 career No. 1s on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, 11 on Rhythmic Airplay, seven on Pop Airplay, five on Dance/Mix Show Airplay and three on Adult R&B Airplay.
Concurrent with its Country Airplay entrance, “Texas Hold ‘Em” opens at No. 38 on Pop Airplay, with its plays on 98 chart reporters translating to 1.3 million audience impressions at the format.
Notably, Rhiannon Giddens plays banjo and viola on “Texas Hold ‘Em.” She hit No. 6 on Country Airplay in 2017 as featured on Eric Church’s “Kill a Word.” (She has charted one No. 1 on the Americana/Folk Albums list, Tomorrow Is My Turn, in 2016, and, as part of Carolina Chocolate Drops, two leaders on Bluegrass Albums.)
“We put the Beyoncé directly into a strong rotation so it can be heard. I want the station to sound as interesting as possible, because the opposite is boring,” muses Dave Parker, pd of Sinclair’s WUSH Norfolk, Va. “This song is sounding great and doesn’t sound like anything else. Plus, the feedback from listeners and even fellow staffers so far has been very positive.”
Says Tim Roberts, pd of Audacy’s WYCD Detroit, of “Texas Hold ‘Em”: “I think it’s a good record, and country is so popular right now, it’s great that she wants to be here. Just like we do with any song on our playlist, now the listeners will decide.”
All charts dated Feb. 24 – including the Hot 100, reflecting songs’ streaming, airplay and sales Feb. 9-15 – will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Feb. 20 (a day later than usual due to the Presidents’ Day holiday in the U.S. Feb. 19).
Nate Smith’s “World on Fire” leads Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated Feb. 24) for a 10th week, tying for the longest domination in the survey’s 34-year history. It matches Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof,” which began its rule in October 2022.
Previously, two hits shared the mark for the longest Country Airplay command – eight weeks each – for nearly 20 years: Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett’s “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” in 2003, and Lonestar’s “Amazed,” in 1999.
In the Feb. 9-15 tracking week, “World on Fire,” released on Arista Nashville/RCA Nashville, drew 30.8 million in audience, according to Luminate.
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The song, which Smith wrote with Ashley Gorley, Taylor Phillips and Lindsay Rimes, the lattermost of whom solely produced it, is the second straight career-opening Country Airplay leader for Smith. The Paradise, Calif., native first ruled with “Whiskey on You” for two weeks last February. Both songs are on the deluxe edition of his debut self-titled LP. The set arrived at its No. 6 high on Top Country Albums last May.
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“The crazy thing about this song is that it wasn’t even supposed to come out!,” Smith recently told Billboard. “It was starting to gain a lot of traction on social media and the demand was high. I’m so lucky to have a team that knew how to strategically release it alongside my debut album by releasing the deluxe version the same day [April 28, 2023] that the debut dropped. This song completely anchored the album.”
Smith, meanwhile, debuts at No. 40 (2.5 million) on the latest Country Airplay chart with his newest single, “Bulletproof,” released Feb. 8.
Gwen & Blake Are Back
Also notably, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton debut at No. 35 on Country Airplay with “Purple Irises” (2.7 million). The song is the pair’s third collaboration to have hit the chart, following two No. 1s in 2020: “Nobody but You” (for two weeks that May) and “Happy Anywhere” (one week, that December).
Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” rules Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart, powered by Tunefind (a Songtradr company), for January 2024 after it received a synch in Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
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Rankings for the Top TV Songs chart are based on song and show data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of January 2024.
“Levitating,” a No. 2 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for Dua Lipa in 2021 and the No. 1 song on the year-end version of the chart that year, appeared in the sixth episode of the Disney+ series’ first season. It premiered on Dec. 19, 2023, and the episode featuring “Levitating” aired Jan. 16.
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In January 2024, “Levitating” earned 18.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 3,000 downloads, according to Luminate.
“Levitating” reigns over Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man,” which appears at No. 2 after being heard in Reacher, Amazon Prime Video’s action series. “Simple Man” appeared in the eighth episode of the show’s second season; it premiered Jan. 19.
“Simple Man” earned 12.4 million streams and racked up 3,000 downloads in January 2024. Its 1,000-download week in the wake of the episode’s release allowed the song to return to Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales chart dated Feb. 3 at No. 7.
It’s one of three entries on the latest Top TV Songs list from Reacher. Soul Coughing’s “Super Bon Bon” ranks at No. 4 (638,000 streams, 3,000 downloads) after appearing in episode seven, while Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” is No. 10 (3.4 million streams, 2,000 downloads) after, like “Simple Man,” being heard in episode eight.
A flurry of songs from True Detective also make the chart after the HBO series’ fourth season premiere, paced by Billie Eilish’s “Bury a Friend” at No. 5, thanks to 4.8 million streams and 2,000 downloads.
See the full top 10 below.
Rank, Song, Artist, Show (Network)
“Levitating,” Dua Lipa, Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney+)
“Simple Man,” Lynyrd Skynyrd, Reacher (Amazon Prime Video)
“Midnight City,” M83, For All Mankind (Apple TV+)
“Super Bon Bon,” Soul Coughing, Reacher (Amazon Prime Video)
“Bury a Friend,” Billie Eilish, True Detective (HBO)
“Twist and Shout,” The Beatles, True Detective (HBO)
“Seven Devils,” Florence + the Machine, True Detective (HBO)
“Sing Sing,” The Bones of JR Jones, True Detective (HBO)
“Inside,” Chris Avantgarde & Red Rosamond, True Detective (HBO)
“White Rabbit,” Jefferson Airplane, Reacher (Amazon Prime Video)
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign land at No. 1 in Australia with Vultures 1.
The result, which answers a question on how international audiences would respond to Ye’s recent controversies, is his fifth ARIA Chart leader, following Yeezus (June 2013), Ye (June 2018), Jesus Is King (Nov. 2019) and Donda (March 2021), an album from which a record-setting 19 tracks flooded the singles tally.
The independently-released effort is a career best for Ty Dolla $ign (Universal), beating the No. 37 peak of Beach House 3 in 2017.
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Also new to the ARIA Albums Chart, published Friday, Feb. 16, is Jessica Mauboy‘s Yours Forever, new at No. 10 for the homegrown pop star’s eighth top 10 album.
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Yours Forever is Mauboy’s first LP for Warner Music, and is the followup to 2019’s Hilda, her second ARIA No. 1 album.
A trio of leading ladies from the United States are in the market, or on the way. And the excitement around their live appearances are impacting the national charts.
Taylor Swift kicks off the Australia leg of her The Eras Tour tonight, with the first of three consecutive nights at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Currently, half of the top 10 titles on the ARIA Chart, and eight of the top 20, belong to TayTay. Produced by Frontier Touring, Swift’s tour of these parts wraps next week with a four-night stand at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
Pink, meanwhile, is touring stadiums for Live Nation, a trek that sees her former leader Trustfall (RCA/Sony) return to the top 10, up 36-9.
And SZA’s SOS (RCA/Sony) spikes, following the announcement of an arena tour of these parts, also produced by LN. SOS lifts 10-5.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, published today, Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” (Universal) logs a third week at No. 1. “Stick Season” leads a podium ahead of Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” (Warner) and Jack Harlow’s “Lovin On Me” (Atlantic/Warner), respectively.
Benson Boone reaches No. 1 for the first time on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart, as “Beautiful Things” lifts 5-1 on the Feb. 17-dated ranking.
In the Feb. 2-8 tracking week, “Beautiful Things” earned 22.8 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. That’s up 23% from the previous frame (Jan. 26-Feb. 1), when the song accumulated 18.5 million streams.
The song premiered at No. 5 on the Feb. 3-dated survey via 15.7 million streams, meaning the song has gained by at least 18% in streams in every week since its release so far (it debuted on streaming platforms on Jan. 18 following a multi-week tease on TikTok).
Boone’s No. 1 on Streaming Songs makes him the first act to snag their first ruler on the chart as a lead artist since Doja Cat, whose “Paint the Town Red” reigned in October 2023.
As Doja Cat had a multi-song history on Streaming Songs prior to her first No. 1, unlike Boone, Boone becomes the first to top the list in their first appearance as a lead act since Oliver Anthony Music, with “Rich Men North of Richmond,” in September 2023.
The other claim to fame for Boone is that “Beautiful Things” is the first song of 2024 to rise to No. 1 for its first reign on Streaming Songs rather than debuting there. The last song to do that was Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me,” which reached the top in its second week (Dec. 2, 2023) after debuting at No. 2 the week before.
Concurrently, as previously reported, “Beautiful Things” jumps 8-3 on the multi-metric Billboard Hot 100. In addition to its streams, the song earned 3.4 million radio audience impressions, (up 321%) and 9,000 downloads (up 15%). Early airplay success has been courtesy of the Adult Pop Airplay (No. 28) and Pop Airplay (No. 32) charts.
The tune also tops the Global 200 for the first time.
“Beautiful Things” is currently a standalone single for Boone, who’s released two EPs, Walk Me Home… (2022) and Pulse (2023).
Venezuelan singer Zhamira Zambrano nabs her first top 10 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Airplay chart with the Jay Wheeler collab “Extrañándote,” as the song rallies 12-4 on the Feb. 17-dated list. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Zambrano’s second single from her forthcoming debut album enters the […]
Cat Janice’s “Dance You Outta My Head” tops another Billboard chart, jumping 5-1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 dated Feb. 17.
The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity Feb. 5-11. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50. As previously noted, titles that are part of Universal Music Group’s catalog are currently unavailable on TikTok.
“Dance You Outta My Head” continues to rise on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 as more users learn about and spread both the song and Janice’s story. The 31-year-old singer is currently in hospice care after being diagnosed with cancer, and the newly released track (Jan. 19) is dedicated to her 7-year-old son as her final song.
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Janice herself has continued to post about the song’s success intermittently on TikTok, while other users post dance or lip-synch videos, raise awareness of Janice’s condition or simply use the tune to soundtrack viral moments.
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“Dance You Outta My Head” concurrently reaches the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for the first time, lifting 11-10. It earned 5,000 downloads Feb. 2-8, good enough for its first week at No. 1 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales list, and 1.2 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.
Below Janice, Cordelia’s “Little Life” lifts to a new peak of No. 2 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50. The tune has been in the top 10 of the chart for the last five weeks, reaching new heights thanks to a trend in which users say they’re eating half of a food item, but do so in increasingly convoluted ways.
Rich Amiri’s “One Call,” the previous chart’s No. 2, and Flo Milli’s “Never Lose Me,” the prior list’s ruler, fall to Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. They’re ahead of the debuting Coldplay classic “Yellow,” which enters the ranking at No. 5. Recent top-performing videos for the song, a No. 48 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for the band in 2001, include footage from Coldplay’s Asian tour as well as a viral upload of a pair of fans getting married to the track.
Concurrent with its debut on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart (No. 38), YG Marley’s “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” reaches the TikTok Billboard Top 50’s top 10 for the first time, vaulting 20-9. The grandson of Bob Marley first found success with the track on TikTok after performing it during mother Lauryn Hill’s concerts late last year, which preceded its eventual release that December.
Recent activity using “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” often covers dance trends as well as users pointing out Marley’s heritage, fitting timing given the release of the new Bob Marley biopic Bob Marley: One Love, which premiered in the U.S. Feb. 14.
“Praise Jah in the Moonlight” jumps 74-60 on the Hot 100 via a 33% boost in streams to 8.3 million total.
See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.
Streams and sales of Usher’s sizable catalog of music rose amid and following his performance at the halftime show of Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11.
From Feb. 11-12, consumption of Usher’s music totaled 35.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams, up 46% from 24.6 million between Feb. 9-10, according to initial reports to Luminate.
Additionally, his music accumulated 27,000 downloads Feb. 11-12, a 210% jump after accruing 9,000 Feb. 9-10.
The gains come despite higher-than-usual totals for the singer on streaming services thanks not just to buzz around his performance, but also the premiere of Coming Home, Usher’s ninth studio album, which was released on Feb. 9. Comparing the two-day period of Feb. 11-12 to the Sunday-Monday stretch of a week before (Feb. 4-5), the percentage gain is even higher – 299%, up to 35.9 million from 9 million. Download-wise, it’s a leap of 1,685% from 2,000 downloads to 27,000.
Leading the way is “Yeah!,” featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, which accumulated 4.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams Feb. 11-12. That’s up 105% from Feb. 9-10, when the song earned 2.3 million streams.
Some of Usher’s biggest gainers were, like “Yeah!,” performed during the halftime show. The same can be said for “My Boo,” Usher’s duet with Alicia Keys (who made a cameo during the medley). The tune vaults 158% to 3 million streams Feb. 11-12, up from 1.2 million the previous two days.
“Love in This Club” (which features Jeezy) follows with 2.4 million streams Feb. 11-12, a 147% boost from 961,000, and then comes “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” (featuring Pitbull) via 2.1 million streams, up 83% from 1.2 million.
Sales-wise, “Yeah!” also paces the pack, racking up 7,000 downloads Feb. 11-12. In the previous frame of Feb. 9-10, it earned 1,000 downloads, giving the song a 424% leap.
“U Got It Bad” boasts the next highest sales count at 3,000 Feb. 11-12, a 349% jump from 1,000 Feb 9-10.
The full breadth of Usher’s catalog gains will be noted on the Billboard charts dated Feb. 24, which cover streams, sales and airplay accrued during the Feb. 9-15 tracking week.
Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” extends its reign over the Billboard Japan Hot 100 to three weeks on the chart released Feb. 14.
The MASHLE season 2 opener saw an increase of about 13.8% in streams from the week before, racking up a whopping 20,118,604 weekly streams and holding at No. 1 for the metric. This figure ranks fourth on the all-time list for weekly streams, following BTS’ “Butter,” YOASOBI’s “Idol” and Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle.” “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” also ruled downloads with 16,450 units, up 26.7%, and karaoke soared 63-32. Overall points for the hip-hop banger have gained 14.5% from the week before.
On the chart tallying the week ending Feb. 11, seven songs in the top 10 stayed in the same position as the week before. tuki.’s “Bansanka” at No. 2 collected 2,218,839 video views (up 1.4%) to rule the metric for the first time, and both downloads and streaming for the poignant ballad remain relatively unchanged.
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Then three of the biggest hits of 2023, Ado’s “Show,” YOASOBI’s “Idol” and two songs by Mrs. GREEN APPLE (“Que Sera Sera” and “Nachtmusik”), follow suit.
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OWV’s eighth single “BREMEN,” the only top 10 debut this week at No. 9, sold 48,912 CDs in its first week to earn the group its first No. 1 in CD sales and the highest position yet on the Japan Hot 100. The figure is up by about 6.3% over the four-member boy band’s previous single, “Let Go.” The latest track also collected points in radio airplay, coming in at No. 12 for the metric.
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The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Feb. 5 to 11, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, 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: The Big Game leads to big gains for country Beyoncé, Usher’s (faux-)lovers and friends and a Whitney classic, while Aimee Carty gets an unexpected lift from the college basketball world, and much more.
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BeyHive Re-Learns Past Country ‘Lessons’ Following New Single Releases
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When Beyoncé unexpectedly returned on Sunday night (Feb. 11) by surprise-releasing two new singles, “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages,” during the Super Bowl, fans were greeted with a pair of country music tracks that seemingly preview the cowboy-hat nature of her upcoming album, Act II. However, longtime Bey fans were quick to point out that the new songs were not, of course, not Beyoncé first country music foray — after all, 2016’s Lemonade was highlighted by “Daddy Lessons,” a rip-roaring jamboree that eventually received a remix and CMA Awards performance with the Chicks.
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As both “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages” get off to hot starts — on their first full day on streaming services, the tracks respectively earned 4.32 million and 2.66 million U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate — fans have also returned to “Daddy Lessons” and helped the nearly eight-year-old track receive new life. On Feb. 12, the song earned 160,000 streams, up a whopping 370% from the previous Monday (34,000 streams). We’ll find out on Mar. 29 how much of Act II actually resembles the sonic makeup of “Daddy Lessons,” but until then, expect its streams to stay elevated as fans prepare for Queen Bey’s country era. — JASON LIPSHUTZ
Alicia Keys & Lil Jon Hits Also Boosted by Usher-Headlined Halftime
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Usher’s well-received and widely viewed – like, 129-million-plus wide – halftime show at Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday night (Feb. 11) has of course had a profound effect on consumption of the R&B superstar’s back catalog. We’ll have exact numbers on Mr. Raymond’s post-SB stats to come later on Billboard, but suffice to say he is up fairly dramatically in song sales and streams following his performance, with classics like “Yeah!” and “My Boo” even threatening Billboard Hot 100 re-entrances next week. But he’s not the only artist seeing gains from the halftime extravaganza.
Alicia Keys, who joined the set primarily to display her vocal and on-stage chemistry with her old duet partner on “My Boo,” also offered a chorus of her own solo 2004 smash ballad “If I Ain’t Got You,” with Usher joining in harmonies at the end. The song consequently racked up 889,000 official on-demand U.S. streams over that Sunday and the following Monday – up nearly 59% from the 560,000 streams it posted over the equivalent two-day period the prior week, according to Luminate. The song also grew in digital sales over the same period, from a negligible amount to nearly 700 copies. (We’ll have to wait to see what impact Keys’ “Got You” performance going viral on Tuesday for less-than-desirable reasons will have on its consumption the rest of the week.)
Meanwhile, Usher’s “Yeah!” collaborator Lil Jon also got his own spotlight moment before being joined by the set’s headliner, leading the crowd in shouts of the timeless refrain to his and DJ Snake’s club perennial, “Turn Down for What.” The song rose 83% in streams from Feb. 5-6 (217,000) to Feb. 12-13 (398,000) and saw an even more pronounced rise in sales, going from a negligible amount to over 1,000 copies. Former Usher collaborators from Gucci Mane to Ella Mai are probably looking at those numbers this week wondering what they gotta do to get the call next time. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Super Bowl ‘Wicked’ Trailer Starring Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo Spurs Soundtrack Streaming Gains
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During the first batch of Super Bowl commercials on Sunday night (Feb. 11), viewers were treated to the first look at Wicked – the forthcoming Jon M. Chu-helmed movie musical based on the fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history. The new film adaptation of the story of Elphaba (Erivo) and Galinda (Grande) hits theaters on Nov. 27, 2024, but fans are already flocking to the existing Broadway cast soundtracks to feed their anticipation.
On the Monday preceding the Super Bowl (Feb. 5), the official combined tally for songs on the original 2003 Wicked cast recording and the 15th anniversary 2018 edition clocked in at 365,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. By the Monday following the Big Game (Feb. 12), that number rose by a whopping 93.6% to 705,000 official on-demand streams. Expect those numbers to continue trending up as the trailer continues to make the rounds in the months leading up to the film’s theatrical release. With Erivo’s take on the “Defying Gravity” riff already going viral, and Grande’s imminent Eternal Sunshine album poised to make a sizable splash, all eyes are on the Wicked ladies as Thanksgiving 2024 draws nearer. – KYLE DENIS
Old Kanye West Song Benefits From Being Sampled on New Kanye West Song
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“Hell of a Life” was not supposed to appear in sampled form on “Carnival,” the breakout track from Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s new collaborative project Vultures 1: a live version of Black Sabbath’s iconic “Iron Man” riff was originally supposed to be lifted into the song, but Ozzy Osbourne refused to clear the sample and sent West a very public cease-and-desist. The fuzzed-out riff from “Hell of a Life,” an album cut from West’s iconic 2010 LP My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, turned into Plan B, and as “Carnival” continues gobbling up streams, “Hell of a Life” has earned a bit of a resurgence as well.
On Monday and Tuesday of this week (Feb. 12-13), “Hell of a Life” earned 96,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, a 54% spike from the same period during the previous week, according to Luminate. Of course, that total pales in comparison to that of “Carnival,” which earned 10.9 million streams between Sunday and Tuesday, and remains entrenched atop daily U.S. streaming charts. Maybe West will sample “Carnival” for a song on Vultures II and create a trickle-down effect on his streaming catalog. – JL
Duke Star Jared McCain’s TikToks Make a Streaming Smash Out of “2 Days Into College”
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Before his fiery first year at Cameron Indoor Stadium alongside his fellow Blue Devils on Duke University’s men’s basketball team, Jared McCain was a TikTok favorite. Now a key player on one of the most popular college sports teams in the country, McCain boasts over 2.4 million followers on TikTok – and his massive audience on the platform has helped turn Irish singer-songwriter Aimee Carty’s “2 Days Into College” into a verifiable streaming hit.
According to Luminate, “2 Days Into College” earned a little over 50,000 official on-demand streams during the period of Jan. 18-25. Over the next week (Jan. 26-Feb. 1), that number exploded by a mind-boggling 4,319% to 2.23 million on-demand streams. Over Feb. 2-8, streams again improved by a further 101%, good enough for just under 4.5 million on-demand streams. McCain first used the song on TikTok in a Jan. 25 post captioned, “Post workout jingles [Aimee Carty] was elite with this.” The post currently holds over 1.1 million likes and 9 million views, while the clip’s official sound features McCain’s very own a cappella cover of the song. Five days later he posted another clip – soundtracked by a mashup of his cover and Carty’s original track – that garnered one million likes and 10.2 million views. Feb. 2 brought yet another TikTok with the mashup playing in the background, and by Feb. 7, McCain was posting TikToks to a Jersey club remix of “2 Days Into College.”
That remix – created by TikTok user @prodbyraesam (Feb. 3) — currently boasts over 12,800 posts on TikTok, while an official sound for Carty’s song is not currently available on the platform. Nonetheless, Carty’s Dec. 6, 2023, TikTok previewing “College” has collected 4.1 million likes and 28 million views to date. The fast-rising singer-songwriter has even acknowledged McCain’s impact on the song’s success, dueting one of his TikToks to the tune of 3.7 million views and 361,400 likes.
As of Feb. 10, “2 Days Into College” is officially Aimee Carty’s Billboard chart debut. The song debuted at No. 22 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 (chart dated Feb. 10) and at No. 5 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 (dated Feb. 17). Carty also makes her first appearance on the Feb. 17 Emerging Artists chart, at No. 32. — KD
Season’s Gainings: Fans Will Always Love Whitney’s National Anthem on Super Bowl Sunday
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Reba McEntire’s “Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl LVIIII: pretty good! No complaints. But as far as all-time versions of the anthem go, it’s entirely likely that none at the Big Game will ever touch Whitney Houston’s XXV rendition in 1991, a version mighty enough to lift the nation’s Gulf War-era spirits and chart on the Hot 100 multiple times. Also one good enough for fans to play annually on (or after) Super Bowl Sunday: Houston’s rendition racked up 14,000 combined official on-demand U.S. streams over Feb. 12-13, a 52% gain from the equivalent period the week before that, according to Luminate. – AU