Trending Up
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: Taylor Swift’s most controversial album gets a bump in anticipation of an announcement that never materialized, Young Jeezy and Akon’s classic teamup gets an unlikely meme boost and an odd cover of a Sly Stone classic drives listeners back to the original.
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Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’ for Surprises Precedes Her on Streaming
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If you were watching the American Music Awards on Monday night (May 26), chances are pretty good you had your eyes peeled and ears open for a certain revelation from a certain pop superstar. Swifties had flooded the internet in recent weeks with predictions of a Taylor Swift Memorial Day Miracle – an appearance at the awards, most likely accompanied by an announcement of a new release, perhaps the long-awaited Reputation (Taylor’s Version) re-recording.
Unfortunately for the Swifties, the AMAs came and went without any appearances, announcements or drops from their fav. But hope clearly sprang eternal in the days leading up to the awards, at least on streaming: The 15 tracks on Reputation racked up a combined 11.3 million official on-demand U.S. streams across the first four days of this tracking week (May 23-26), ahead of the awards – a 14% gain from the equivalent period the prior, according to Luminate. And that bump was of course highest on Memorial Day, as the album racked up 2.4 million total streams on that day alone, a 29% gain from the prior Monday.
Jeezy and Akon’s 20-Year-Old Hit Scores Thanks to a ‘Holy Airball’
“Soul Survivor” was the breakout crossover hit 20 years ago for the rapper then known as Young Jeezy, as the Akon-assisted banger lifted to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped establish his Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 as one of the year’s biggest rap albums. Two decades later, the street anthem is once again delighting music fans, though through a relatively unlikely conduit: a TikTok meme about dating gaffes.
Tiktoker Hadley (@localyerbafein) stroke viral paydirt last week (May 21) when she shared a video that captured the story of a guy – presumably one she was seeing, or at least considering seeing – responding to her interest in law with a question about her watching the TV show Suits. The video ends with footage of Hadley serving as a courtroom attorney, with the caption “holy fckin airball” – all, of course, set to “Soul Survivor.” The clip quickly spread through the app, racking up 10 million views and 1.8 million likes, and inspiring a number of other users to share their own he-shoots, he-doesn’t-score stories, with Akon and Jeezy again serving as the soundtrack.
Consequently, the track exploded on streaming towards the end of last week. For the tracking week ending May 22, “Soul Survivor” amassed over 3 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate – fully doubling its stream count from the prior week – and it should be headed for an even bigger tally this week, as TikTok keeps putting up one “holy fckin airball” after another.
‘Everyday’ Memeable: Sly & the Family Stone Classic Lifted by Revival of Unlikely Cover
In 2017, two greats of popular music – pop icon Cher and rap legend Future – teamed up for an unlikely collab cover of Sly & The Family’s soul-pop classic “Everyday People.” Their rendition was featured in a Gap commercial that showcased the star pair meeting up on a staircase on an otherwise-blank set to discuss how Cher can’t get the 1969 Hot 100-topper out of her head, leading to her crooning the song over a trappy beat. Meanwhile, Future attempts to fill in with harmonies and ad libs – in a mixture that, unsurprisingly, feels slightly less than organic.
The awkward commercial has recently begun to recirculate around the internet, resulting in pairs of TikTokers recreating the visual in endearing clips gently poking at the stilted chemistry of the original. The Cher & Future “Everyday People” is not currently available in full on DSPs, but of course the Family Stone original is there for the streaming – and folks have been evidently charmed enough by the improbable cover to revisit (or check out) the original. According to Luminate, over the first four days of this tracking week (May 23-26), “Everyday People” is up to 309,000 official on-demand U.S. streams from 256,000 over the same period in the prior week, a gain of 21%.
Rhapsody in Blue Shirt: Sam Gellaitry Single Rises Thanks to Viral Dance Proxy
In this week’s example of never knowing where a breakout hit might come from in 2025, we have Scottish dance producer Sam Gellaitry. His song “Assumptions,” from the 2021 EP IV, has begun to percolate on streaming over the past month, thanks to the Russian dancer Руслан Айдаев, now known to the internet as Blue Shirt Guy – who has been a meme of some degree for years already for his full-bodied dance moves, shot from behind.
Recent viral videos have paired the clip with Gellaitry’s throbbing electro-pop instrumental, resulting in it going nuts on TikTok all over again – with many of the app’s finest donning their best blue shirts and filming themselves shaking it from behind. Consequently, the four-year-old “Assumpstions” has risen to the top of Gellaitry’s Spotify page, and is now racking up over 2.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams a week, up 142% from three weeks earlier, according to Luminate.
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: Pirates have raided the Indianapolis rap scene, The Weeknd has a big new era-capping movie out and ATL rap just keeps riding the comeback wave.
Indianapolis Rapper Big Ro6 Rides “Pirate Rap” to a Breakthrough Single
As Joey Bada$$ handles the West Coast in a still-unfurling, months-long rap beef, an entirely different wave is flooding out of the Midwest – Indiana, to be exact. Indianapolis rapper Big Ro6 has set the internet ablaze with “Decisions,” a track he originally dropped last fall (Oct. 13, 2024).
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When he first put out the song, Big Ro6 supported it with a series of live performances, including one on The Debut’s YouTube channel, which has garnered over 230,000 views since Nov. 6. The song did its thing throughout the holiday season and into the new year, but after Ryan Coogler’s Sinners hit theatres (April 18), the movie’s exploration of Black and Irish music helped attune consumer’s ears to the Gaelic-esque, “pirate” inflections in Big Ro6’s tone on “Decisions.” On May 2, Big Ro6 dropped the track’s official music video, gifting people a visual to attach to their social media posts about the song. By May 14, TikTok user @kye.phlow started a dance challenge with a video that has since earned over 85,500 views. Nicknamed a “hood shanty” and “pirate rap,” “Decisions” has been inescapable across social media – and that’s showing in its streaming totals.
According to Luminate, “Decisions” earned 121,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of May 2-8. By the following week (May 9-15), that figure exploded by 713% to over 986,000 streams. The first weekend post-music video release (May 9-12), the song pulled 119,000 streams. That figure boomed by over 1,176% to over 1.5 million streams the following weekend (May 16-19).
With musicians like Morray hopping on the dance trend, “Decisions” could very well continue its streaming ascent. – KYLE DENIS
Waking Up ‘Tomorrow’: Weeknd Film Boosts Streams for Album Tracks
Four months after The Weeknd unveiled Hurry Up Tomorrow — his first album since 2022’s Dawn FM, which still stands as the biggest No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 chart so far this year — the pop superstar released a companion film of the same name last weekend. Co-starring Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan, the full-length feature finds The Weeknd portraying a fictionalized version of himself in a psychological thriller that he also co-wrote and co-produced.
After the project hit theaters last Friday (May 16), some of the album tracks featured in the film benefited on streaming services: the title track, for instance, earned 294,000 U.S. official on-demand streams in the film’s first four days of release (May 16-19), up 42% from the same four-day period during the previous week, according to Luminate. “Gasoline” experienced an even bigger bump, up 48% from 152,000 streams from May 9-12 to 226,000 streams from May 16-19. While “Timeless,” The Weeknd’s hit single from the album alongside Playboi Carti, is back in the top 20 of the Hot 100 this week — helped by its new Doechii-featuring remix — these streaming bumps give him a few more options for follow-up singles as the Hurry Up Tomorrow campaign continues. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Bankroll Ni Notches ‘ATL’ Another Viral Rap Hit
Between Yung LA’s “Ain’t I” and BunnaB’s “Bunna Summa,” Atlanta rap is having a moment on TikTok. ATL Mc Bankroll Ni is continuing that trend with the aptly titled “I’m So ATL.”
Aided by a simple dance trend that compiles moves from other 2025 dances and finds users “swimming” and “eating,” “I’m So ATL” has quickly taken over socials, with everyone from Latto and Da Brat hopping on the trend. Originally released on April 18, the song pulled 94,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in its first week of release (April 18-24), according to Luminate. The following week (April 25-May 1), streams rose over 200% to 285,000 streams, and the week after that (May 2-8), they jumped a further 90% to over 543,000 streams. During the week of May 9-15, streams for “I’m So ATL” — which apparently refers to both the city of Atlanta and the phrase “about that life” — rose another 51% to over 822,000 streams, making for a 771% lift in streams over the past four weeks.
Although the official TikTok sound is currently down, “I’m So ATL” is sure to continue its TikTok domination through unofficial sounds. – KD
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: An early great of the Billboard charts threatens her first new hit in many decades, a staple turn-of-the-millennium band connects with Gen Z and two new artists score viral breakout hits.
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A Connie Francis Deep Cut Makes for a ‘Pretty’ Good Viral Moment
Connie Francis was one of the reigning queens of the Billboard Hot 100 in its early days. The late-’50s and early-’60s pop star scored a whopping 15 top 10 hits on the chart, including three No. 1s: “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own” (both 1960) and “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You” (1962). And over six decades after her commercial peak, Francis is once again having a big pop culture moment – but it’s not with any of those charting singles.
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“Pretty Little Baby,” a non-single from Francis’ 1962 album Connie Francis Sings Second Hand Love, has caught fire on TikTok in the past month. Users have been lip synching along to the “You can ask the flowers/ I sit for hours/ Telling all the bluebirds/ The bill and coo birds/ Pretty little baby, I’m so in love with you” verse of the song, often while wearing cute retro outfits and/or singing to actual babies, with over a million videos being created to the song (though the official sound’s page currently appears to be unavailable).
Regardless, the song has already begun to cross over from TikTok to streaming in massive numbers. As recently as the tracking week ending April 10, the song was earning just over 17,000 official on-demand U.S. streams a week – but four weeks later, that number was up to 2.4 million, a gain of over 7,000%. And it’s still rising at an incredible rate – even debuting on the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA and Global charts – meaning the song could soon be threatening a Hot 100 debut, a mere 63 years after its initial release. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
OK TikTok: Radiohead’s ‘Let Down’ Goes Up in Viral Plays as Catalog Grows
One of the greatest emotional rushes within Radiohead’s sprawling discography is the final verse of “Let Down,” on which Thom Yorke’s quivering lilt soars higher and higher to achieve bracing, beautiful alt-rock catharsis. Even as “Karma Police,” “Paranoid Android” and “No Surprises” remain the signature songs from the band’s 1997 masterwork OK Computer, “Let Down” has long been a favorite among Radiohead diehards — and now, the song is slowly crossing over to casual fans, too.
TikTok has latched onto that euphoric final verse, particularly the line “One day, I am gonna grow wings,” with users reacting to (and often bowled over by) the song’s whooshing upward build. And those TikTok clips are starting to translate into real streaming momentum for “Let Down,” which was earning 1.83 million U.S. on-demand weekly streams a month ago (during the chart week ending Apr. 10, according to Luminate), and is now earning 2.73 million streams (for the week ending May 8).
That’s a 49% increase in the song’s weekly streams over a four-week period — and while Radiohead’s entire streaming catalog isn’t growing that rapidly, “Let Down” is helping that total grow. Radiohead’s catalog earned 35.4 million streams during the week ending May 8, up 10% from four weeks prior (32.1 million during the week ending Apr. 10). Pretty impressive for a band whose most recent album came out nine years ago, although Yorke is keeping busy: he just put out a new album with electronic producer Mark Pritchard, as the duo Tall Tales, just last week. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Trump, Dance Trends & TikTok Relationship Drama Boost BB Trickz’ “Super”
Nearly two months ago (March 30), BB Trickz released “Super” as the lead single from her new 80z EP – and an interesting combination of social conversation has driven up the track’s streams.
Eagle-eyed music fans may recognize BB Trickz, a Spanish rapper who broke through in 2023 with sample drill tracks, from Charli XCX’s “Club Classics” remix. BB even appeared as a surprise guest on the second night of Charli’s Barclays Center mini-residency on the Brat Arena Tour (May 1). About two weeks before her appearance onstage (April 22), BB said that she could learn a few things from Donald Trump and Hitler during an interview with Grimey TV, spurring understandably split reactions amongst fans and increasing her general notoriety as “the most hated rapper in Spain.”
That clip – which has since amassed over 57,000 views – came around the same time “Super” became the go-to song for a TikTok love triangle to throw shade at one another. TikTok personalities @.willito, @orlenaodette, @wendolynortizz have each posted multiple videos with the official “Super” sound (which currently boasts over 166,000 posts) that have millions of collective views.
Independent of that love triangle, much of the social conversation around “Super” is based around some people adoring the song and other people detesting it. Furthermore, on April 24, BB Trickz teamed up with TikTok personality @bachbuquen for a dance challenge set to “Super.” That clip reached 9.4 million views on Back’s account and over 23.5 million views on BB’s account.
According to Luminate, “Super” has jumped over 776% in streams over the past four weeks. During the period of April 4-10, the track earned over 146,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. By the time her Trump comments started going viral and the dance trend kicked off, “Super” pulled over 1.9 million streams during the week of May 2-8, growing over 50% week over week.
Having already visited the Billboard charts with Charli — “Club Classics” reached No. 8 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs last year – BB Trickz could soon be poised for her first solo entry. – KYLE DENIS
ATL’s Female Rap Wave Buoys a New Hit In BunnaB’s “Bunna Summa”
Just as Pluto & YKNiece’s “Whim Whammiee” begins its Hot 100 ascent, Atlanta has already spun out another delightfully ratchet female rap hit to kick off the summer.
Released on April 16, “Bunna Summa” arrived after a few short weeks of teasing from the artist herself. On April 4, Bunna B posted a snippet of the then-unreleased song to her official TikTok account (@therealbunnab). To date, that snippet has amassed over 584,000 views, while the accompanying official sound now plays in over 51,000 posts on the app. Most of the song’s traction has come from the end of its opening verse: “I drive the boat, these b–ches follow/ F–ked around and text my ex, oops, it was a typo/ Shake, shake, shake, booty shake like a maraca/ If you ain’t throwin’ ass, what the f–k you outside for?”
In its first week of release (April 11-17), “Bunna Summa” garnered 112,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. That number jumped 425% in its first full tracking week (April 18-24) to over 592,000 streams. The following week, streams jumped a further 145% to over 1.4 million, and by May 2-8, the song started crossing over two million weekly streams.
If her hit continues to rise along with the temperatures, we can officially crown the upcoming season a “Bunna Summa.” – KD
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: The Bey Hive buzzes over the Cowboy Carter Tour, Mariah the Scientist eyes a proper breakout hit and Katy Perry sees a less-remembered older hit gain newfound interest.
Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Streams Giddy Up 116% Following Tour Launch
If not for the launch of Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s long-awaited co-headlining Grand National Tour last month, the most-anticipated live kickoff of the month would’ve almost certainly been Beyoncé‘s latest stadium trek, the Cowboy Carter Tour. Taking Bey around some of the biggest venues in the U.S. — and a couple in Europe as well — the Cowboy Carter Tour opened to rave reviews at Inglewood, Calif.’s SoFi Stadium last Monday (April 28), with fans around the globe gobbling up any live clips available and prepping their own costumes for when the Queen’s rodeo comes to town.
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And those same fans — whether inspired by the clips that have circulated, or merely attempting to bone up on its deeper cuts before future live dates — are of course also streaming the album in droves. From last Friday to Sunday (Apr. 25-27), the three days before the tour’s launch, Cowboy Carter generated 4.7 million total official U.S. on-demand streams across its tracks, according to Luminate. For the three days after the launch (Apr. 29-May 1), that number was up to over 10.2 million — a gain of 116%. Some of the songs from the album receiving the biggest bumps over that period include “Ya Ya” (up 147% to 544,000), “Protector” (up 207% to 438,000) and of course Bey’s reinvention of Dolly Parton’s classic “Jolene” (up 118% to 405,000).
The streaming bump can also be seen in the chart performance of Cowboy Carter — which had slipped to No. 193 on the Billboard 200, at risk of falling off altogether, before rebounding all the way to No. 63 on this week’s chart (dated May 10). Will this be a one-week bump for Bey’s latest, or will it extend throughout the tour, Eras-style? That will certainly be one of the many things we continue to monitor about the Cowboy Carter Tour is it gallops around the country from here.
Mariah the Scientist’s New Song ‘Burning’ Up the Streaming Charts
R&B singer-songwriter Mariah the Scientist has developed a strong fanbase and critical reputation over the course of her three studio albums and a variety of one-off singles and feature appearances — including on Billboard Hot 100 hits by 21 Savage (“Dark Days”) and Tee Grizzley (“IDGAF”). But to this point, despite her burgeoning profile — with an added boost in exposure from her romantic relationship with hip-hop icon Young Thug — she’s still yet to notch a true breakout hit of her own as a lead artist.
Well, not until this week, anyway, following the Friday (May 2) release of Mariah’s new love ballad “Burning Blue” — which many have understandably taken to be about her storied beau, who was recently released from prison after submitting a a non-negotiated guilty plea in his RICO trial that resulted in his being sentenced to 15 years probation but no jail time. “Burning” had been teased extensively by Mariah pre-release, and upon dropping, quickly set fire to the Apple Music real-time chart, rising all the way to the top of the listing. In total, the song has racked up over 7.3 million on-demand U.S. audio streams in its first four days of release (May 2-5), according to early estimates from Luminate — an eye-popping number for a brand-new song by an artist with little chart crossover history.
Now, with the loved-up ballad spreading its way through the internet, the song sets its sights on a Hot 100 debut next week — with a good chance of even entering in the chart’s top half — as Mariah the Scientist takes the first big step on what could be a major 2025 level-up for her.
Fans Still “Thinking” About Overlooked Katy Perry Hit
While the headlines haven’t always been the kindest to Katy Perry the past month, she is off on her Lifetimes Tour, and apparently getting fans wistful about some of older hits. One that’s taken off in the past couple weeks is one that didn’t make the tour setlist: lovelorn ballad “Thinking of You,” the lone hit among breakout set One of the Boys‘ first four hits that didn’t make the top 10, peaking at No. 29 in February 2009.
The song has started to spread on TikTok — with some fans comedically taking on her vocal affectations on the track, and others simply pining for Perry at her most Alanis Morissette, a singer-songwriter mode that Perry rarely returned to on her singles after going pop supernova with 2010’s Teenage Dream blockbuster. Whatever the inspiration, the song’s virality has resulted in it nearly doubling in weekly official on-demand U.S. streams, from 279,000 for the tracking week ending April 24 to 539,000 the week of May 1, according to Luminate.
If it’s too late for Perry to work it into her Lifetimes set, maybe opener Rebecca Black could take it on instead? She has previously shown an affinity for covering less-remembered early Katy Perry singles…
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: A box office blockbuster starts to get its footing on streaming, while Charli XCX parlays Coachella attention into another viral moment and a big HBO twist lends new emotional heft to the song that soundtracks it.
‘Sinners’ Soundtrack Spins Southern Horror into Streaming Success
Academy Award-nominated multihyphenate Ryan Coogler has scored perhaps the first must-see film event of 2025 with Sinners, a remarkable Michael B. Jordan-led period horror flick that blends Southern Gothic elements with vampires and blues music. The picture opened to over $48 million at the box office, snagging the No. 1 spot from A Minecraft Movie – which spun out its own streaming hit last week.
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Sinners features an original score by Oscar winner Ludwig Göransson, as well as an original soundtrack produced by him and his wife, Serena Göransson. With a smattering of blues and gospel classics, Irish folk tunes and original cuts performed by the cast, Rod Wave, Don Toliver and Brittany Howard, the Sinners soundtrack captures the critical role music plays in the film’s plot.
According to Luminate, the Sinners soundtrack pulled over 570,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in its first day of release (April 18). Over the course of the film’s opening weekend (April 18-21), the soundtrack’s streams increased by at least 20% day-over-day, ultimately jumping 126% over the three-day period to over 1.3 million streams on April 21.
The Rod Wave-penned-and-performed titular song and lead single from the soundtrack arrived on April 4 and has steadily increased in streams now that the film is in theaters. By April 21, the song logged over 448,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, marking a near 30% increase from the number of streams it pulled at the top of the weekend (April 18). Don Toliver’s “Flames of Fortune,” the soundtrack’s other original song by a contemporary rap star, leapt 271% in streams across opening weekend, topping out at 51,000 official streams on April 21.
Three of the most notable streaming increases came from songs performed in the film by the Sinners cast. Miles Caton’s Raphael Saadiq-penned “I Lied to You,” a very pivotal song in the film, exploded over 600% in streams from April 18-21. By April 21, daily streams for “Lied” topped 175,000. Caton also sings alongside Grammy-nominated soul singer-songwriter Alice Smith for the end credits song, “Last Time (I Seen the Sun).” Streams for last time jumped over 500% across the film’s opening weekend, eventually reaching over 40,000 official streams by April 21. Finally, streams for “Rocky Road to Dublin,” a sinister take on a 19th-century Irish folk song performed by Irish singer Brian Dunphy, rose a whopping 700% across the film’s opening weekend. By April 21, the song logged over 109,000 official on-demand U.S. streams.
Already having spun out a Billboard 200 No. 1 album in the 2018 Black Panther soundtrack and a Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit in Wakanda Forever’s “Lift Me Up,” it looks like Ryan Coogler has delivered yet another film that will significantly impact the music world. — KYLE DENIS
‘Party’ On, Charli: 2020 Deep Cut Goes Viral Again for Coachella’s Miss Should Be Headliner
Just when you might have thought Charli XCX’s reign over pop culture was over — with the star giving her hedonistic 10-month Brat Summer a proper send-off through a pair of special guest-filled Coachella sets April 12 and 19 – the resurgence of an older deep cut (for the second time already this year) has proven that the party will never really be over for her.
“Party 4 U,” an A.G. Cook-produced, Robyn-esque banger on 2020’s How I’m Feeling Now about dancing through the pain despite feeling your heart break in real time, is seeing another streaming spike the past week. That’s largely thanks to a melancholy new TikTok trend, where fans share their interpretations of the song’s emotional breakdown, which finds an emotionally wiped Charli repeating the phrase “Party on you” over stacks of artfully Auto-Tuned harmonies. Users unloaded anecdotes about everything from seeing an ex seven years post-breakup to searching for love on Roblox, before the song’s creator herself finally shared its real meaning in a video of her own: “This is actually the moment you realize that that one person isn’t ever coming to your party,” she wrote, “so you stand in the middle of the room, tears briefly fill your eyes but then you wipe them away, pretend you’re ok and proceed to get unbelievably f—ked up…”
Nonetheless, the track has given Charli plenty to celebrate with its recent performance on DSPs — pulling in nearly two million official on-demand U.S. streams between April 18 and 21, a 63.4% increase from the same period (April 11-14) the week prior, according to Luminate. It was also the biggest gainer on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart on Tuesday (April 22), moving up 37 spots to No. 39 — so even though Coachella has officially wrapped for 2025, Charli’s “Party” may not have even hit its peak yet. – HANNAH DAILEY
That Major Moment on ‘The Last of Us’ Boosts Streams For The Video-Game Voice of Ellie
No The Last of Us spoilers here, don’t worry — but if you’ve been on the Internet at all over the past few days, you’re probably aware that the most recent episode of the zombie-apocalypse HBO series contained a rather momentous ending. And before credits rolled on the second episode of season 2, the final few minutes were soundtracked by “Through the Valley,” the 2012 song by Shawn James, as covered by Ashley Johnson and guitarist Chris Rondinella.
Johnson has a special connection to The Last of Us: not only did the singer-actress, who was a child star on Growing Pains and later appeared in films like What Women Want and The Help, voice the character of Ellie in the best-selling video game franchise, but she also played Ellie’s mother when the HBO series premiered in 2023. In 2021, Johnson sang four songs, including a somber take on “Through the Valley,” on The Last of Us Part II: Covers and Rarities, an EP released following the second installment of the video game.
After her rendition of “Through the Valley” concluded the episode (also titled ‘Through the Valley’), daily streams of the cover shot up by a factor of 10: after earning 4,000 U.S. on-demand streams on the previous Monday (Apr. 14), the song scored 43,000 streams on the day after the episode aired (Apr. 21), according to Luminate. The Last of Us Part II: Covers and Rarities also includes Johnson and Rondinella covering a-ha’s “Take on Me” — maybe that one will appear in an episode of The Last of Us where the infected get really into synth-pop? – JASON LIPSHUTZ
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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See latest videos, charts and news
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This week: Lady Gaga, Green Day and more Coachella acts see streaming gains after weekend one, Jack Black is on his way to his second super-viral (and super-short) film soundtrack hit, a dancehall legend takes a victory lap in Brooklyn and more.
Coachella Streaming Bumps: Which Headliner (Or ‘Should Be Headliner’) Enjoyed the Greatest Gains?
The first weekend of Coachella 2025 is in the books, and along with the surprise guests, song debuts and celebrity sightings that take place in the deserts of Indio, Calif. each year, we also had a mini-controversy surrounding the Saturday night headliner. Green Day topped the Saturday bill (although Travis Scott closed out the main stage that night), while Charli XCX played ahead of the pop-punk veterans; over the weekend, however, Charli was spotted wearing a sash that read “Miss Should Be Headliner,” and whether that sash was worn in earnest or as a tongue-in-cheek statement, the social-media discourse was fast and furious.
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Yet Charli defenders can rejoice: the chatter, along with the British pop star’s actual performance (which featured guest stars Lorde and Billie Eilish), resulted in one of the biggest streaming upticks across the major Coachella acts, with Charli’s catalog earning 12.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams from Saturday (Apr. 12) through Monday (Apr. 14) — a 27% increase compared to the same period during the previous week, according to Luminate. Green Day, in turn, scored a 17% jump thanks to their headlining set, with their catalog up to 10 million streams from Apr. 12-14.
While Sunday headliner Post Malone scored a 5% bump from Saturday to Monday (albeit with a much larger catalog total of 30.3 million streams), Friday headliner Lady Gaga earned an almost identical streaming bump to Charli XCX — up 27%, from 20.6 million between Apr. 5-7 to 26.3 million between Apr. 12-14. In particular, Little Monsters were putting their paws up to Mayhem single “Abracadabra” (up 34% in streams) and Born This Way throwback “Judas” (up 66%), with an ultra-cool transition between the two songs in Gaga’s Coachella set list. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Jack Black’s ‘Lava Chicken’ Song for ‘Minecraft’ Movie Erupting on Streaming
Remember “Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie – the 95-second piano ballad that film voice actor Jack Black sung in the blockbuster as the villainous Bowser, which became an improbable Billboard Hot 100 hit in 2023? That song may have been abbreviated, but it’s basically “Bohemian Rhapsody” compared to the Jack Black song now taking off from the similarly successful A Minecraft Movie: “Steve’s Lava Chicken.”
Co-penned with film director Jared Hess, the one-verse, no-chorus song finds the actor-rocker’s Steve character singing about his delicious lava chicken for its :34 second runtime. Though the would-be jingle’s lack of catchiness is immediately pointed out by Jason Mamoa’s protagonist character Garrett in the movie, the song is apparently sticking pretty firmly in the heads of those who’ve seen it – $283.9 million’s worth of viewers and counting. The song racked up 2.5 million official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending Apr. 10, according to Luminate – up 1,973% from the week before, prior to the film’s release.
It’s not alone on the soundtrack, either – Jack Black’s “I Feel Alive,” penned by hitmaker Andrew Wyatt and released as the set’s official lead single, was also up 261% to 584,000 streams, while the total soundtrack rose 838% to just over 5 million total streams. But it’s “Steve’s Lava Chicken” – which has continued to rise so far this week – which is currently threatening to give Jack Black his second sub-two-minute Hot 100 hit of the 2020s. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Vybz Kartel’s Stateside Comeback Sparks Strong Streaming Gains
Last weekend (April 11-12), King of Dancehall Vybz Kartel played his first U.S. headlining shows in over 20 years with two sold-out nights at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The Jamaican icon played over two hours of hits, including “Benz Punany,” “Fever,” “Clarks,” “Summertime” and “Brooklyn Anthem,” with special guests like Busta Rhymes and Spice surprising the rowdy crowd.
According to Luminate, Kartel’s three-decade-spanning catalog — which is still in the process of being properly tagged and organized on DSPs — earned over 1.43 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the weekend preceding his Reggae Fest-presented concert (April 5-7). During the weekend immediately following the shows (April 12-14), however, streaming activity for Kartel’s discography leapt 62%, to over 2.32 million official on-demand streams, according to Luminate
Earlier this year, the Billboard cover star earned his ninth top 10 entry on the Reggae Albums chart with Viking: 10 Year Anniversary, an expanded edition of 2015’s Viking (Vybz Is King), which previously reached No. 3. With more new music and additional performances – including a forthcoming Wireless set in London – on the way, Kartel’s comeback just keeps on giving. – KYLE DENIS
Moliy’s ‘Shake It to the Max’ Slowly Plots Worldwide Takeover
In late 2024 (Dec. 3), after weeks of teasing the track on social media, Ghanaian-American singer Moliy unleashed her team-up with Jamaican producer Silent Addy: an infectious afro-dancehall track called “Shake It to the Max.” Two months later (Feb. 21), Moliy — who previously reached the Hot 100 as a feature on Amaarae’s “Sad Gurlz Luv Money” (No. 80) — tapped Jamaican dancehall superstars Shenseea and Skillibeng for the remix, further boosting the track’s virality and easing its crossover into Caribbean and Caribbean-American markets. If the track’s steady streaming increases are anything to go by, Moliy has been handling her rising hit perfectly.
During the period of Feb. 28 to March 6, “Shake” earned just over 385,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. Five weeks later, that figure rose 212% to over 1.2 million official streams logged during the week of April 4-10, according to Luminate. The song has risen steadily each of those five weeks, aided in large part by a trending, hip-rolling dance that’s been performed by the likes of Davido, Shenseea and Victoria Monét, Tiwa Savage and Afro B. The official “Shake” TikTok sound currently boasts over 666,000 posts, while the official “Shake (Remix)” sound plays in an additional 195,000 clips.
On the World Digital Song Sales chart dated April 19, “Shake” reached No. 3, a new peak that could soar even higher as more fans get acquainted with the song. And during Vybz Kartel’s aforementioned sold-out April 12 Brooklyn Show, he brought out Moliy, Shenseea, Silent Addy and Skillibeng for a “Shake” performance that should only further amplify the song in the States. – KD
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: The biggest HBO drama gets big streaming numbers following its season finale, and a pair of new artists experience their first big TikTok breakouts.
‘White Lotus’ Finale, and Composer Controversy, Spur Streaming Gains
In a convergence of fictional and real-life drama, season 3 of the smash HBO series The White Lotus concluded on Sunday night (Apr. 6), during the same week in which creator Mike White engaged in a war of words with the series’ music composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, who announced last week that he would not returning for season 4. One conflict involved a shootout, the other included the phrase “b—h move” — and both produced significant streaming spikes for music related to the show.
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Without spoiling the end of season 3, Billy Preston’s “Nothing From Nothing” and Cathedral Singers’ “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” are both featured prominently in the finale — and while “Nothing” earned 64,000 official on-demand U.S. streams on the day after the finale premiered (Apr. 7), up 353% from the previous Monday, “Lo” scored an even greater percentage bump, up 867% to 6,600 streams following the finale, according to Luminate. Meanwhile, Tapia de Veer’s “Enlightenment (Main Title Theme),” which introduced each of the eight episodes of the Thailand-set third season, doubled in daily streams following the finale, from 27,000 streams on Mar. 31 to 55,000 streams on Apr. 7. (“Renaissance (Main Title Theme),” the season 2 theme, was also up 74% week over week.)
This will likely be the final week in which a Tapia de Veer composition introduces a new episode of The White Lotus, but who knows? Maybe White and Tapia de Veer can pull a Jacqueline and Laurie, and hug it out on a day bed. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Lululemon Gets Hip-Hop Approval With Viral TikTok Hit “Whim Whamiee”
Atlanta-based rappers Pluto and YK Niece have completely taken over TikTok – and the rest of social media – with their infectious, viral hit “Whim Whamiee.”
Released on Feb. 3, the song features a line nodding to Lululemon, the popular athleisure fashion brand that signifies relatively high status in certain social circles. On Feb. 19, TikTok user @lifeofjordan_ shared a clip dancing to “Whim Whamiee,” specifically the lines, “He want me bad, heard he a duck, can’t get no c–chie out the queen, put some Lulu on this butt” and the “Lululemoooon” ad-lib. His clip has since earned nearly 250,000 views, helping the song take off across the app. In the weeks that followed, those lines have continued to be the song’s most popular part, but Pluto’s “I’m talkin’ ’bout in it” ad-lib during YK Niece’s verse has also gained ample traction. Just five days after he posted his TikTok (Feb. 24), the Red Mic District dropped the official live performance video for “Whim Whamiee,” further boosting the song’s profile.
During the period of Feb. 28-Mar. 6 – a little over a week following @lifeofjordan_’s post — “Whim Whamiee” earned just over 247,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. Streaming activity continued to rapidly increase, with the song earning over one million official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of March 14-20, according to Luminate. By the following week (March 21-27), that figure leapt 32% to 1.38 million streams, thanks, in part, to the release of the song’s official music video. The next week (March 28-April 3), “Whim Whamiee” streams exploded 84% to over 2.5 million streams. Over the past four weeks, streaming activity for “Whim Whamiee” has risen a gobsmacking 929%.
With everyone from Latto and Alabama Barker to JT and Flo Milli co-signing the “Whim Whamiee,” the song very well could become Gen Z’s very own Lululemon theme song. Just don’t tell its founder. — KYLE DENIS
Malcolm Todd Spins “Chest Pain” Into a Certified Hit
It’s been a journey for Malcolm Todd’s latest hit — nearly half a year, to be exact.
Todd first started teasing “Chest Pain (I Love)” in his live shows last winter, with a fan account sharing one of those clips (overlayed with a seemingly studio-quality snippet of the song) in a Nov. 15 TikTok that has since been viewed over 405,000 times on the app. Four days later, Todd used that fan’s sound to share a TikTok post of him in the recording studio. This particular sound showcases the second half of the chorus — in which he repeatedly sings “I love” — gifting TikTok it’s latest viral trend.
As he did with past singles like “Comfort Me,” Todd quickly inundated his TikTok following with posts soundtracked by “Chest Pain,” specifically the part of the chorus he teased in his initial snippet. The official “Chest Pain” TikTok sound currently boasts just under 400,000 posts, while the sound attached to his initial snippet currently plays in over 1.5 million clips. Users have since used the song to pay tribute to everything that they love – from pets and home-baked cookies to relationship green flags and volleyball.
“Chest Pain” finally landed on DSPs on Dec. 4, 2024, and found a home on Todd’s eponymous debut album, which dropped April 4. Building on the success of his previous single and TikTok’s eternal penchant for heartfelt ballads, “Chest Pain” earned over 1.23 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of March 14-20, according to Luminate. The following week (March 21-27), streams jumped 70% to 2.1 million. The week preceding his album release (March 28-April 3), streaming activity for “Chest Pain” leapt a jaw-dropping 153% to over 5.32 million streams.
Already having peaked at No. 2 on the now-defunct TikTok Billboard Top 50, “Chest Pain” now has its sights set on even grander (and active) Billboard charts. — KD
Billboard Women in Music 2025
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: An Amazon Prime season finale makes a 2020s streaming hit out of a 2010s alt-rock anthem, while Randy Travis’ eternal love song keeps on burning and Snoh Aalegra scores a long-overdue viral breakout.
‘Shine’ Bright: Mondo Cozmo Soars With ‘Reacher’ Synch
“Everything will be alright/ If you let it go,” Josh Ostrander, the singer-songwriter who records under the name Mondo Cozmo, sings on the chorus to his alt-folk anthem “Shine.” Released on his 2017 album Plastic Soul, “Shine” was a minor hit for Mondo Cozmo, climbing to the top of the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart eight years ago; now, the track has resurfaced in a major way, after it was featured in the season 3 finale of the Amazon Prime Video smash Reacher, which was unveiled on Thursday (Mar. 27).
“Shine” earned 116,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in the first four days that the season finale was available(Mar. 27-30) — more than 1000% the total of the same four-day period during the previous week (9,900 streams from Mar. 23-26), according to Luminate. Meanwhile, “Shine” went from a negligible amount of sales during the previous the week to 2,400 downloads from Mar. 27-30, and nearly a week after the finale was released, the single remains the most-Shazamed song in the country. Even if “Shine” doesn’t receive a revival on the scale of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” if the song’s streaming and sales total keeps pushing upward, Mondo Cozmo could make a return to the Billboard charts. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
“Forever and Ever,” Again – Randy Travis Country Classic Becomes Streaming-Era Hit
First released in 1987, “Forever and Ever, Amen” became not only a Country Songs-topping smash for Randy Travis, but an enduring standard and a signature song. While the song has never remained far from pop culture (and the country world in particular), in the past month it has taken on new life, both as the title of Travis’ recently announced upcoming biopic, and as the source of an emotional Carrie Underwood cover – both of which were revealed at the Grand Ole Opry last month, to very positive reception.
These new boosts, combined with the song’s lingering virality, have resulted in “Forever and Ever Amen” growing into a sizable streaming hit over the course of March. While the song was already racking up 1.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams for the final tracking week of February (ending Feb. 27), in the four weeks since that number has nearly doubled, as “Forever” amassed 3.5 million for the week ending March 27 – while the song’s digital sales have also exploded 565% for the same time period, to over 1,200.
If the song keeps growing, it could become a chart hit all over again – proving that the song really is as eternal as its title implies. – ANDREW UNTEREBRGER
Snoh Aalegra’s Has Her “Eyes” on TikTok Four Years After Song’s Release
Snoh Aalegra has been an R&B darling for years now, but “In Your Eyes” could land her a legitimate hit single. The groovy Neptunes-produced single is a deep cut from the Swedish singer’s 2021 Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies LP, which earned a best R&B album Grammy nod and peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard 200.
According to Luminate, streaming activity for “Eyes” has exploded nearly 540% over the next four weeks. Across the first few months of the year, the song naturally gained traction simply because users were discovering and vibing with it. On March 9, user @ruscowski11 posted a dance clip to “Eyes,” quickly kicking off a dance trend that spread to several different corners of the app. During the week of March 7-13, “Eyes” pulled 607,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, posting a 72% increase from the week prior, according to Luminate. In the first full week post-dance video (March 14-20), streams jumped a further 73%, topping out at 1.05 million streams. Last week (March 21-27), “Eyes” leapt another 51%, earning 1.59 million streams. The official “In Your Eyes” TikTok sound currently boasts over 62,000 clips on the platform.
Between Ravyn Lenae and Janet Jackson scoring viral TikTok hits in recent weeks, it looks like Snoh Aalegra is the latest to ride the app’s R&B wave. – KYLE DENIS
New Lingo, New Viral Track: Rob49 Scores Big With “WTHelly”
When Rob49 dropped “WTHelly” on March 21, the song earned 339,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in its first weekend of release (March 21-24). The following weekend (March 28-31), streaming activity for the song catapulted 373% to over 1.6 million streams.
The impetus? TikTok of course! Over the past week, Ro49’s new single has completely taken over the app, with users sharing their shock and amusement at the song’s outro. “What the helly?/ What the hellyanté?/ What the helly on?/ What the helly, Berry?/ What the helly, Burton?/ What the helly, ‘Bron James?/ What the helly Cyrus?” he spits, making a seemingly everlasting pun out of the phrase “what the helly,” a NOLA-steeped take on the more universal “What the Hell.” On TikTok, the song’s official sound has already earned a whopping 87,5000 clips, including several posts like Wiz Khalifa and Love Island star Leah Kateb.
With hits like “Wassam Baby” and “Trippin on a Yacht” already in the tuck, Rob49 is an eyeing another one with “WTHelly” — which has recently earned a Justin Bieber co-sign. – KD
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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See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
This week: The biggest TV drama on streaming dusts off some old renditions of vocal pop favorites, an ’00s smash goes newly viral and lifts the ’70s classic it samples, and 27 years after Will Smith’s Hot 100-topper, it’s time to get jiggy with it again.
A Streaming Waffle Party for Severance Finale-Bumped Pop Standards
Did you manage to see the Cold Harbour project through to its completion in the Severance Season Two finale last Thursday (Mar. 20)? If so, you probably heard a number of pop standards in the episode, soundtracking all the innie-and-outtie drama in the action-packed season-ender. While Apple TV’s hit sci-fi workplace drama has resulted in minor gains for some of the more high-profile synchs of its second season, the finale saw a couple songs who were previously racking up weekly streams in the triple or low-quadruple digits exploding to five and even six figures.
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The biggest bump was, unsurprisingly, for “The Windmills of Your Mind,” the late-’60s pop standard originally recorded by Noel Harrison for the soundtrack to late-’60s heist flick The Thomas Crown Affair. In last Friday’s Severance, “Windmills” was featured (as performed by legendary crooner Mel Tormé) during the episode’s emotionally heightened-but-ambiguous closing sequence – with viewers rushing to Shazam the mysterious pop ballad. The song has racked up 215,000 U.S. on-demand audio streams in the four days since the finale aired (Mar. 20-24), up over 30,000% from the negligible number of streams it amassed in the equivalent period the prior week, according to early data provided by Luminate.
Similarly gargantuan were the percentage gains for late-’50s and early-’60s hitmaker Bobby Darin’s version of “Work Song,” a jazz-pop standard originally penned by Nat Adderley (with lyrics added by Oscar Brown Jr.), and recorded by Darin for his 1963 album Earthy! After playing over the end credits to the Severance season finale, the relative pop obscurity jumped over 35,000% in streams to over 20,000 for that same four-day period.
Much more modest were the gains for a song featured in the finale that’s never that far removed from American popular culture: The Alan Parsons Project’s spectral prog-rock instrumental “Sirius,” which became an all-time jock jam after being used by the ‘90s Chicago Bulls for their pre-game player intros. After seeing similar usage from Mr. Milchick on Severance, the song jumped 16% to just under 125,000 streams for the same four-day period. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Nearly 25 Years After Release, TikTok Revives Janet Jackson’s “Someone to Call My Lover”
Janet Jackson is an indisputable music icon, but her 2004 Super Bowl halftime show controversy effectively railroaded her crossover to younger listeners. Luckily, in the TikTok era, anyone can have a comeback at any time.
Bolstered by a natural love for breezy, springtime pop songs by Black women – the same general trend that’s boosting Ravyn Lenae’s “Love Me Not” — Janet Jackson’s “Someone to Call My Lover” has started to explode on streaming. According to Luminate, streaming activity for “Someone” has risen over 606% over the past four weeks. During the week of March 14-20, the song earned 1.14 million official on-demand U.S. streams, marking a 75% increase from the 651,200 streams it pulled the week prior (March 7-13).
The song originally earned a series of viral X posts and TikToks last fall, and as the weather started warming up, users started gravitating towards “Someone” to capture the mood of the season. The official “Someone to Call My Lover” TikTok sound has earned over 64,200 posts, with that number growing each day.
“Someone” lifts its signature guitar riff from America’s ’70s pop-rock smash “Ventura Highway,” which has also seen a boost in streaming. Activity for “Ventura” has risen over 56% over the past four weeks; during the week of March 14-20, the song earned 2.45 million official on-demand U.S. streams, marking an 8% increase from the 2.26 million streams it pulled the week prior (March 7-13).
A quarter century after it reached No. 3 on the Hot 100, “Someone to Call My Lover” has enraptured a whole new set of listeners. — KYLE DENIS
Zeddy Will Racks Up Another TikTok-Fueled Hit With “Get Jiggy”
Zeddy Will is as much of a regular as an artist can be in this column, and he’s back this week with another one.
Zeddy first teased “Get Jiggy,” a collaboration with B Jack$, back in January, and, the following month (Feb. 6), he shared another snippet with the now endlessly recreated neck-jerking choreography. The first snippet earned 113,000 views, while the second has since topped out at around 575,000 views. The song finally hit streaming on Feb. 27, clocking over one million official on-demand U.S. streams in its first full week, according to Luminate.
That figure leapt 95% to over 2.2 million streams during the week of March 7-13. The next week (March 14-20), “Jiggy” rose a further 26% to over 2.81 million streams. Over the past two weeks, streams for “Jiggy” have soared nearly 148%. The official “Get Jiggy” TikTok sound has garnered nearly 400,000 posts, showing that Zeddy Will is more than validating his status as one of Billboard staff’s 15 Hip-Hop, African and R&B artists to watch in 2025. – KD
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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See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
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