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.
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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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See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
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
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: A late R&B great sees massive gains for her stellar catalog, a rising singer-songwriter scores a potential breakthrough hit and a beloved TV actor gets a Netflix bump for his music.
Angie Stone’s Catalog Rises After Neo-Soul Icon’s Passing, Led by “No More Rain”
On March 1, neo-soul icon and The Sequence founding member Angie Stone tragically died in a car accident near Montgomery, Ala. at the age of 63. With a three-time Grammy-nominated catalog spanning hip-hop, neo-soul and southern R&B, Angie Stone amassed three Billboard Hot 100 hits and landed seven titles on the Billboard 200 throughout her career.
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According to Luminate, Stone’s catalog earned just over 621,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in the week preceding her passing (Feb. 21-27). During the week of her passing (Feb. 28-March 6), that figure exploded a whopping 1,263% to over 8.4 million official streams. 1999’s “No More Rain (In This Cloud)” was one of her biggest streamers during the week of her death, collecting 2.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams — a 538% boost from the week prior.
Meanwhile, 2002’s “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” — her most recent Hot 100 entry (No. 79) — rose 1,008% during the week of Feb. 28-March 6, collecting 1.44 million official on-demand U.S. streams. And 2001’s classic “Brotha,” a song and music video honoring and uplifting Black men, experienced one of the biggest streaming boosts in Stone’s catalog following her passing. During the week of Feb. 21-27, the song earned just over 42,000 official on-demand U.S. steams. The following week, that figure leapt 2,026% to over 907,000 official streams.
Notably, all three songs debuted in the top five of the R&B Digital Song Sales chart dated March 15: “No More Rain” bowed at No. 1, “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” followed at No. 2, and “Brotha” managed a No. 5 debut. All three songs mark her first entries on this particular ranking, which launched in November 2012. — KYLE DENIS
Streaming Wraps Its Arms Around Sydney Rose’s New Sad Girl Hit
If Drake’s new musical obsession is weepy singer-songwriter ballads with hard-hitting beat-switches, Sydney Rose has just the viral hit for him. The Georgia singer-songwriter, who previously achieved some streaming success with the independently released “Turning Page” in 2020, released her new song “We Hug Now” to DSPs in February. The post-relationship song starts as a gentle, echoing ballad, à la Rose’s musical hero Phoebe Bridges – but it’s the climax, after a switch to a more cathartic mid-tempo singalong, that has taken off on TikTok, with countless users connecting with the lyrics: “You’re just thinkin’ it’s a small thing that happened/ The world ended when it happened to me.”
The world now may just be opening up for Rose, who has signed to CAA for touring and released “Hug” through Mercury Records. Her new signature song has exploded on streaming, racking up nearly 4.3 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending on March 6 – a gain of 345% from three weeks earlier, according to Luminate. As the song continues to grow and Rose herself continues to spread the word herself through edits and mashups shared on her TikTok, it might not be long until the 6 God is once again asking for a “Hug.” – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Gabby Petito Netflix Docuseries Revives 16-Year-Old Matt Berry Song
Last month (Feb. 17), Netflix released American Murder: Gabby Petito – a docuseries about the 2021 murder of travel vlogger Gabby Petito. At the close of the final episode, Matt Berry’s “Take My Hand” begins to play, which has ratcheted up the track’s streaming activity.
During the week of Feb. 14-20, “Take My Hand” earned just over 36,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. By the first full week since the release of the docuseries (Feb. 21-27), that figure jumped 866% to over 348,000 official streams. The following week (Feb. 28-March 6), that number rose a further 6%, reaching 579,000 official streams. Over the past two weeks, streaming activity for “Take My Hand” has risen over 1,505%.
“Take My Hand” served as the opening theme for Berry’s award-winning Toast of London comedy series, exemplifying the crossover between his acting and music careers. In 2022, there was a small wave of TikToks expressing shock that the What We Do in the Shadows actor also made music. The official “Take My Hand” TikTok song currently boasts over 10,000 posts.
Berry has yet to hit any Billboard chart, but that could soon change should “Take My Hand” maintain its streaming momentum. – 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 Oscars leads to gains for songs from winners Anora and Emilia Perez, Bob Dylan gets another wave of A Complete Unknown gains (as does the guy who plays him in the movie), and listeners say farewell to one of the greatest pop, soul and jazz singers of the 20th century.
Oscars Boost ‘El Mal,’ Take That’s ‘Anora’ Anthem And… Indie Band Yuck
The 97th Annual Academy Awards may have been the rare Oscars telecast to shrug off any performances of the best original song nominees, but that doesn’t mean some wide-ranging tunes didn’t benefit from their ties to Hollywood’s biggest night. For one, the song that actually did emerge victorious in that category — “El Mal,” from Emilia Pérez — did earn a major streaming bump. The spiky rap-rock track, performed in the French musical by Zoe Saldaña and written by Clément Ducol, Camille and director Jacques Audiard, experienced more than a 2,000% increase in official on-demand U.S. streams thanks to the Oscar win, according to initial data from Luminate – from fewer than 1,000 streams on the Monday before the awards ceremony (Feb. 24) to nearly 20,000 streams the day after the Oscars (Mar. 3).
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Meanwhile, the enormous night for indie dramedy Anora — five Academy Awards, including Best Picture — coincided with an uptick for Take That’s “Greatest Day”: the 2008 single received a euphoric remix from Robin Schulz and Calum Scott in 2023, and the reworked version appears multiple times in Anora. As director Sean Baker enjoyed his “Greatest Day” with a record-tying four Oscar wins in a single night, the updated Take That track shot up 500% in daily streams, from 6,000 on Feb. 24 to 41,000 one week later. Elsewhere, Shirley Bassey’s “Diamonds Are Forever” earned a similar percentage bump thanks to Doja Cat’s performance of the classic during a James Bond medley at the Oscars; “Diamonds” was up 441% on the day after the Oscars, from over 3,000 streams to over 18,000 streams.
Yet the most surprising recipient of an Oscars streaming increase is Yuck, the noise-rock-leaning indie band that released three albums between 2011 and 2016; as astute blogosphere scholars pointed out on Sunday night, Daniel Blumberg, the composer who won the Best Original Score Oscar for his work on The Brutalist, used to be Yuck’s frontman before he pivoted to the film world. As a result, Yuck’s streaming catalog soared 432% post-Oscars, from 7,000 total streams on Feb. 24 to nearly 39,000 streams on Mar. 3. That’s probably not quite enough to convince Blumberg for a reunion, but indie rock diehards can dream. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Despite Oscars Shutout, ‘A Complete Unknown’ Continues to Boost Tracks From Its Stars – And From Bob Dylan Himself
Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown may have lost all eight of its nominations at Sunday night’s Academy Awards (March 2), but the film is pulling off a few notable wins on streaming and in sales.
According to initial data from Luminate, streams for Dylan’s catalog rose 15% during Oscar weekend. From Feb. 21-24, Dylan’s catalog earned 7.02 million official on-demand U.S. streams. For the similar period the following week (encompassing Oscars weekend), his catalog pulled 8.11 million streams. His digital song sales also nearly doubled over that period, shooting from 1,600 to over 3,200.
A Complete Unknown was accompanied by an official soundtrack, featuring covers of Dylan and Joan Baez classics sung by Oscar-nominated stars Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro. “It Ain’t Me Babe,” the 1964 classic notably performed by the duo in the film, has steadily risen in streams over the past month. During the period of Feb. 7-13, the cover pulled just 177,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. Two weeks later, that figure exploded by 310% to over 727,000 streams earned during the period of Feb. 21-27.
And it’s still rising, as both the song and the movie continue to find new fans. Over that Feb. 28-Mar. 3 period, the song’s streams leapt nearly 80% over the equivalent period the prior week, from 315,000 to over 565,000. – KYLE DENIS
Roberta Flack’s Catalog Up Over 400% in Streams, 4,600% in Sales Following Her Death
The great pop, soul and jazz singer Roberta Flack died from cardiac arrest at age 88 on Feb. 24. Flack was a four-time Grammy winner – including back-to-back record of the year wins in 1973 (“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”) and 1974 (“Killing Me Softly With His Song”), making her the first artist to ever win the award in consecutive years. She also topped the Billboard Hot 100 with both of those singles, in ‘72 and ‘73, respectively, as well as with “Feel Like Makin’ Love” in ‘74 – making her the first woman to score No. 1s on the chart in three straight years.
Following her passing last week, fans of course flocked to DSPs and retailers to stream and buy her classic hits. Her catalog more than quintupled in official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending Feb. 27 – up from just over a million streams the week before to over 5.4 million, according to Luminate – and also rose nearly 4,600% in digital sales, from under 400 total to over 18,000. The biggest risers included those two record of the year winners, “The First Time” (up 284% to 769,000 streams and over 5,000% to 5,900 in sales) and “Killing Me Softly” (up 220% to 1.3 million streams and nearly 4,900% to 6,700 in sales), as well as one of her signature Donny Hathaway duets, 1978’s “The Closer I Get to You” (up 244% to 584,000 streams and over 4,600% to 1,900 in sales). – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Bhad Bhabie Rides New Feud to a Catalog-Reviving Surprise Hit Diss Track
Seven years after scoring her first Billboard Hot 100 entry, Bhad Bhabie could be gearing up for her first appearance of the 2020s on the chart. Taking a page out of Kendrick Lamar’s book, Bhad Bhabie has spun a legitimate streaming hit out of her beef with Alabama Barker, daughter of blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.
On Feb. 25, Bhad Bhabie dropped “Ms. Whitman,” a blistering diss track that samples Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s “Carnival” and accuses Barker of a litany of things, including an unconfirmed abortion from a Tyga pregnancy. During its first full week of release (Feb. 25-March 3), “Ms. Whitman” earned 7.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to initial data from Luminate – essentially working out to a little over a million streams a day.
“Ms. Whitman” is also boosting Bhad Bhabie’s back catalog, which includes the Hot 100 hits “These Heaux” (No. 77), “Gucci Flip Flops” (No. 79, with Lil Yachty) and “Hi Bich” (No. 68). During the week of Feb. 14-20, Bhad Bhabie’s discography pulled 1.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams. The following week (Feb. 21-27), streaming activity for her catalog more than doubled to over 3.57 million streams. With streams still pouring in and the beef still active, “Ms. Whitman” could very well threaten to become Bhad Bhabie’s highest-peaking Hot 100 hit yet. – 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: A viral TikTok is remixed into a best-selling protest song, an indie rock institution is introduced to younger fans (again) through a big movie synch and Philadelphia gets to celebrate yet another February win via a breakout rap hit.
‘Hostile Government Takeover’ Dance Remix Turns Bleak Current Events Into a Bop
A few weeks after Donald Trump returned to the White House and started dismantling norms left and right, the TikTok user AGiftFromTodd recorded a 30-second video of himself getting ready to leave his house while crooning an original song that began with the line, “We’re in the middle of a hostile government takeover/ I wanna talk about it, but I’ll be late for work.” Todd’s soulful alarmism went viral, with thousands of likes and shares on TikTok upon its Feb. 4 upload, and while he posted a few new versions of the song in the following weeks, the one that’s crossed off to streaming services in a major way is an EDM remix that pairs hopelessness with a club thump, courtesy of producer Vinny Marchi.
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“Hostile Government Takeover” by AGiftFromTodd & Vinny Marchi spent a good chunk of last weekend at No. 1 on iTunes, selling 4,800 downloads from Feb. 21-24, according to initial data provided by Luminate. Meanwhile, its streams keep climbing — the dance remix earned 597,000 official U.S. on-demand streams over that four-day span, up from 153,000 streams from the previous Friday-to-Monday tracking period. As the song continues to spread, the good news for Todd Givens Jr. is that the next four years will offer plenty of new material to riff on for follow-ups. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Yeah Yeah Yeahs ‘Edge’-ing Towards Another Newly Viral Hit Thanks to ‘Gorge’ Synch
If there’s one rock act from 20 years ago that doesn’t especially need any more bumps from newfound Gen Z virality, it’s probably New York’s the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The trio, which reunited in 2022 for its first album together in nearly a decade, spent a stunning eight weeks atop the Billboard TikTok Top 50 chart last year for signature 2003 power ballad “Maps,” racking up millions of streams a week for the revitalized (and re-viralized) hit. Now, the group is surging again with a catalog hit – though this time, it’s not with another decades-old song, but rather a song from that reunion album.
“Spitting Off the Edge of the World,” which was the lead single of 2022’s Cool It Down and featured an assist from acclaimed alt-pop singer-songwriter Perfume Genius, has gotten a big look in Apple TV’s original movie The Gorge, released on Valentine’s Day. The song plays during a pivotal love scene between the film’s co-leads – played by film stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy – and it shot to near the top of the Shazam charts almost immediately after the film’s release, still sticking around there a week later, as folks scrambled to find out what the doomy song playing in the action romance was.
A whole lot of those Shazamers undoubtedly ended up streaming “Spitting” as well – as the song racked up 629,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending Feb. 20, a 375% gain for the song from the previous week, according to Luminate. And many ended up purchasing the song, too: “Spitting” sold nearly 3,000 copies in that week, a massive gain from the just-over-100 it moved the week before, and good enough for a No. 15 debut on the Digital Song Sales chart – the group’s first-ever appearance on that listing. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Philly MC Skrilla Taps RWE Basketball Star & TikTok ‘Clipfarming’ for Latest Viral Hit
Last fall (Sept. 9, 2024), a nameless TikTok account uploaded a snippet of a then-unreleased Skrilla song titled “Doot Doot.” The snippet quickly rent viral due to his rambling opening verse, 1ellis’ gritty production and his memorable delivery of the phrase “six, seven.” Since September, the snippet has been used in over 126,000 TikTok posts, eventually giving way to an official DSP release on Feb. 7, 2024.
As the “Doot Doot” snippet continued to make the rounds on TikTok going into 2025, the song earned an unforeseen supporter in Taylor “TK” Kinney, a basketball star for RWE of the Overtime Elite league. Hailing from Newport, Kentucky, the baller has found a way to say “six, seven” in Skrilla’s cadence in nearly every interview from the past few months. The phrase is now synonymous with both TK and Skrilla on socials, and the two young men got to link up in person at an RWE game two weeks ago.
For weeks, TikTok users have been responding positively to TK’s “clip farming” — a practice that basically entails purposely doing something in hopes that it will be clipped and reuploaded across social media – by making edits of his game highlights that are soundtracked by his “six, seven” quip merged with the “Doot Doot” snippet.
According to Luminate, “Doot Doot” earned 1.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams during its first week of released (Feb. 7-13). That figure shot up 105% the following week to over 3.5 million streams. The track has already racked up 3.2 million streams over the first four days of this tracking week (Feb. 21-24), according to initial data provided by Luminate, which marks an 88% jump from the same period the prior week.
With its official music video garnering over 1.26 million YouTube views in just over a week and no signs of slowing down on TikTok, there’s tons of room for Skrilla ‘s latest hit to continue growing. – KYLE DENIS
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
This week: Drake’s new album with PartyNextDoor has a mid-week breakout hit, Charli XCX has a pre-Brat viral bump, Riley Green’s song (and video) for the lovers sees seasonal gains, and more.
Drake’s “Nokia” Is Buzzing, Aaron Hall Embraced on Streaming After “Gimme a Hug” Sample
In its first couple days of release, the early leader on streaming from PartyNextDoor & Drake’s new R&B collaborative album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U was Drake’s more rap-driven solo number “Gimme a Hug,” with the song topping the Apple Music real-time chart and reaching the top 10 on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA listing. But over the week, another song from even deeper in the 21-track album has taken over as its top performer: the pop hook-driven, two-part banger “Nokia.”
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With backing vocals and a beat helmed by U.K. producer Elkan, “Nokia” – also credited solely to Drake – had the usual big streaming drop following its first day of release, but has been climbing throughout the week. On Tuesday, it posted 2.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to initial data provided by Luminate – its best streaming performance since that Friday of release, and its first time passing “Hug” as the set’s most-streamed song. Meanwhile, the song has also been one of the week’s best sellers, topping the iTunes real-time chart and moving a combined 13,000 copies over its first five days of availability.
Meanwhile, “Hug” continues to offer warmth on streaming to its original sample source. Aaron Hall’s “I Miss You,” which Drake heavily lifts from towards the end of his $exy $ongs ¢enterpiece, garnered over 700,000 streams during the first five days of this tracking week (Feb. 14-18), after combining for under 100,000 streams the equivalent period the prior week, a gain of 694% for the 1993 Billboard Hot 100 top 20 hit. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
‘How I’m Feeling Now’ Winter? An Old Charli XCX Track Is Going Viral
Charli XCX’s enormous 2024 — which included the critical and commercial success of her Brat album and its accompanying Sweat tour alongside Troye Sivan — has already pushed into 2025, thanks to a fruitful Grammys night and more arena headlining dates. Now, a song that’s years older than her comeback album is going viral: the tender, ethereal “Party 4 U,” from her 2020 lockdown album How I’m Feeling Now, has been exploding on TikTok in recent weeks, with a series of lip synch performances from longtime Charli fans ready to prove their pre-Brat bona fides.
A month ago, “Party 4 U” was earning 278,000 official on-demand U.S. streams (for the chart week ending Jan. 23), according to Luminate; that number more than doubled to 573,000 streams for the week ending Feb. 13, and will once again surpass that high-water mark after earning 830,000 streams from Feb. 14-18, according to initial Luminate reports. Charli herself acknowledged the viral explosion on Wednesday (Feb. 19): “it’s p crazy that this song is suddenly getting love in this kinda way,” she wrote. “I know this song means so much to so many angels. she’s a cutie
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 Super Bowl pours further gas on Kendrick Lamar’s still-blazing flames on streaming, while a Lady Gaga one-off gets emotionally resurrected and a Latto single gets a huge bump from a new remix with a big-name guest.
TV Off, Headphones On: Kendrick Lamar’s Daily Streams More Than Double Post-Super Bowl
Prior to the Super Bowl, Kendrick Lamar was already one of the biggest artists in the world, with five songs in the top 40 of last week’s Billboard Hot 100. Yet his explosive halftime performance at Super Bowl LIX on Sunday (Feb. 9) was a rising tide that lifted all of his respective boats on streaming services, from the superstar rapper’s latest album to his signature hits to his co-star at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
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On the day after the Super Bowl (Feb. 10), Lamar’s streaming catalog earned 70.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams — a 153% increase from the previous Monday’s total (27.5 million on Feb. 3), according to initial reports provided by Luminate. “Not Like Us,” the Drake diss heard ‘round the world and the centerpiece of the halftime show, experienced an even greater percentage uptick: the former No. 1 hit rose a whopping 222% in daily streams, to 10.4 million on Monday.
Major spikes occurred for halftime highlights “Squabble Up” (up 159% in daily streams compared to the previous Monday), “Luther” (up 150%), “TV Off” (up 139%) and “Peekaboo” (up 186%). All of those songs are featured on Lamar’s most recent album, GNX, which earned a 141% total increase in daily streams across its dozen tracks, notching 31 million plays on Monday. Meanwhile, some of the older hits that Lamar revived for the halftime show scored even bigger bumps: “Humble” was up 242%, “DNA” was up 207% and “All the Stars” was up 295%, as fans returned to some of Lamar’s biggest hits from the previous decade.
And SZA, who joined Lamar on two songs during the showcase, saw her own streams soar thanks to her first Super Bowl halftime appearance. Last Monday, her catalog earned 19.1 million streams; a week later, that number reached 30.3 million streams, a 58% increase on the day after the big game. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Lady Gaga Gets a ‘Hold’ on the iTunes Chart After Emotional Pre-Super Bowl Performance
Few would consider “Hold My Hand,” Lady Gaga’s 2022 soundtrack single from Top Gun: Maverick, to be a signature song of hers: The song charted respectably, reaching No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, but had little commercial staying power and is unlikely at this point to ever appear on a full Lady Gaga album. But it clearly has a time and a place – and that time and place may have proven to be at the Super Bowl LIX pre-show on Sunday night (Feb. 10), where she performed the piano ballad on Bourbon Street in New Orelans, as part of a tribute to the victims of numerous tragedies that struck American soul in the past year, namely the New Year’s Day attack on New Orleans that left 14 dead.
After NFL legends Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and Terry Bradshaw helped introduce the tribute and the performance, the tribute cut to Gaga at her piano, playing a stripped-down rendition of the Top Gun love theme that accentuated the song’s message of support and perseverance. It clearly resonated with the global audience watching: The song was up 149% in official on-demand U.S. streams over Feb. 9-10 (the day of and day after the Super Bowl) compared to the same two-day period a week before, according to initial reports provided by Luminate, and it was up to nearly 6,000 in digital sales – topping the real-time iTunes chart on Sunday night – up thousands of percent from the negligible amount it moved the prior equivalent period.
It probably won’t be the song most Little Monsters continue streaming in the lead-up to next month’s Mayhem release, but it might have some endurance in Gaga’s catalog after all. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Latto Eyes Yet Another ‘Sugar Honey Iced Tea’ Hit with Some Help from Playboi Carti
Between Grammy-nominated tracks like “Big Mama” and radio-conquering cuts like “Brokey,” Latto’s Sugar Honey Iced Tea album has been cranking out hits for several months now. Big Mama has shown no signs of slowing down in 2025, tapping Playboi Carti to boost the next single from her chart-topping third studio album.
Late last month (Jan. 27), Latto announced that she enlisted Carti for a new version of “Blick Sum.” The high-energy trap banger had been a fan-favorite since Sugar Honey Iced Tea dropped last summer (Aug. 9), but the Carti version lifted the single to new heights. In the week preceding Carti’s take on the song (Jan. 17-23), “Blick Sum” earned over 584,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. The following week – which includes a shortened tracking week for the Carti version since it dropped on Jan. 28 – that number exploded by a staggering 541% to over 3.74 million official on-demand U.S. streams (all versions combined). In its first full tracking week including the new version (Jan. 31-Feb. 5), “Blick Sum” collected over 5.34 million official on-demand streams. Over the past two weeks, streams for “Blick Sum” have been up 815%.
The new version of “Blick Sum” isn’t technically a remix; it’s actually an earlier version of the song that leaked months ago. Latto ultimately settled on the solo version for her album, but the Carti version remained in circulation, further building anticipation for its eventual release. One TikTok sound containing Carti’s leaked verse collected over 45,000 posts since last October; there was even a quasi-viral dance choreographed to the sound.
Should “Blick Sum” continue its streaming ascent, the Carti-assisted track would become the sixth track from Sugar Honey Iced Tea to do so, the most of any of Latto’s studio albums. – KYLE DENIS
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 Grammys make big winners on streaming out of both long-established legends and rising stars, while Fetty Wap scores his biggest hit in a decade with a song from a decade ago and Severance dips its toes into big rock synchs.
Biggest Grammys Gainers: ‘Cowboy Carter,’ ‘Von Dutch’ and All Things Doechii
The 67th Annual Grammy Awards ended with history being made: Beyoncé at long last won the album of the year award, as her country crossover Cowboy Carter finally earned the most Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning artist in history the top prize of the ceremony. The magnitude of that victory is still being put into context days later, but one thing was for certain: Cowboy Carter was going to see a major uptick in streaming activity immediately after the Grammys, with unfamiliar viewers perusing the album and longtime fans revisiting it nearly a year after its release.
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On Jan. 26, the Monday before the Grammys, Cowboy Carter earned 1.07 million U.S. on-demand audio streams, according to Luminate. On the Monday after the Grammys (Feb. 3), however, that daily total shot to 7.50 million — a 595% increase. As for the rest of the Big Four, Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” was up 74% in daily streams (from 1.37 million on Jan. 26 to 2.4 million on Feb. 3) following its wins for record of the year and song of the year, while Chappell Roan’s catalog rose 50% (from 5.96 million streams on Jan. 26 to 8.99 million streams on Feb. 3) thanks in part to her best new artist victory.
Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” — which received a brightly colored, rodeo clown-filled performance showcase — naturally earned an even bigger bump, rising 109% (851,000 daily streams to 1.77 million) during that span. Other notable gainers thanks to performances included Charli XCX’s “Von Dutch,” which zoomed from 183,000 daily streams to 423,000 (up 130%) following her raucous performance to close out the ceremony; Raye’s “Oscar Winning Tears,” which jumped from 216,000 daily streams to 334,000 (up 54%) thanks to the British artist’s vocal pyrotechnics, and Doechii’s eye-popping medley, which constituted the best performance of the ceremony, helped “Catfish” leap from 210,000 daily streams to 658,000 (up 213%) and “Denial is a River” move from 1.08 million daily streams to 2.08 million (up 93%).
In addition to her performance, Doechii also delivered a moving acceptance speech following her win for best rap album with Alligator Bites Never Heal — a breakthrough moment, which helped her entire catalog soar from 2.84 million daily streams to 8.01 million (up 182%). – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Fetty Wap Is Hot ‘Again’ Thanks to Slightly Confusing Viral Trend
10 years after the New Jersey rapper took the world by storm with hits like “Trap Queen,” “My Way” and “679,” Fetty Wap is hot again – and the conversation is all around his aptly titled 2015 Billboard Hot 100 top 40 hit “Again” (No. 33).
Centered around the phrase “blasting Fetty Wap on the JBL speaker,” the joke of the meme is playing he rapper’s songs at particularly inappropriate moments via the JBL. At the top of the new year (Jan. 9), one user used “Again” in a video captioned “How do you think the pilgrims would react if I pulled up to the Mayflower with my JBL speaker and introduced them to Fetty Wap?”; that post currently has over 3.6 million views and a reply from the official History Channel TikTok account. More history–minded posts followed, and near the end of the month (Jan. 24), the trend evolved past historical settings. One user used the official “Again” sound to make a World War III quip, while another used it to make a joke about blasting the track at a friend’s funeral.
According to Luminate, “Again” earned over 4.77 million official on-demand U.S. streams last week (Jan. 24-30). That’s a 265% increase in streaming activity from the 1.3 millin streams it pulled the week prior (Jan. 17-23). Last weekend (Jan. 24-27), the song posted a 387% jump to 6.69 million streams versus the 1.37 million it logged the weekend prior (Jan. 31-Feb. 3). Currently, the official “Again” sound boasts over 250,000 posts. Fetty Wap may unfortunately still be incarcerated, but clearly a comeback isn’t entirely out of the question. — KYLE DENIS
The Who and Stone Roses Jams Get ‘Severance’ Bump
The first season and a quarter of Apple TV’s sci-fi workplace drama Severance has been relatively light on high-profile synchs – but thank Kier, the show is starting to break out the big guns midway through its second season. The third episode of Season Two, “Who Is Alive?,” is bookended with a pair of songs used in big spots: The Stone Roses’ mid-’90s alt-rock hit “Love Spreads” soundtracks a road journey for the (maybe?) villainous Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) to start the show, while the ep ends with The Who’s early-’80s AOR staple “Eminence Front” punctuating a breakthrough moment for protagonist Mark S (Adam Scott).
The synchs haven’t resulted in Stranger Things-sized gains yet for the songs in question, but both saw big bumps following their S2E03 appearance in the hit show. “Love Spreads” racked up a combined 33,000 U.S. on-demand audio streams over the first four days of this tracking week – with the episode premiering on the first day, Friday (Feb. 20) – a gain of 78% over the same period the week prior, according to Luminate. “Eminence Front” was also up 27% to 326,000 over the same time span, while the two songs combined to sell nearly 400 copies after selling under 100 the week before. If Severance keeps up with the inspired synch choices, maybe it’ll be producing legitimately viral hits by the time Mark completes the Cold Harbor project. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Yung Bredda Heats Up the Winter with Soca Smash
Between Machel Monatano’s historic NPR Tiny desk set and Yung Bredda’s infectious new hit, soca is having a beautiful start to 2025. Trinidadian soca star Yung Bredda’s “The Greatest Bend Over” — a sweet ode to the woman with “di wickedest bend over” — arrived late last year on Full Blown’s “Big Links” riddim (Dec. 2). The song has quickly become one of the most dominant current hits across the Caribbean with carnival season still to come. Soca is a bit more of a nice genre in the U.S., but “The Greatest Bend Over” is still finding some traction.
During the period of Dec. 13-19, Yung Bredda’s track earned just over 35,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. A little over a month later (Jan. 24-30), the song’s streaming exploded by a whopping 940% to over 367,000 streams. On TikTok, the song’s official sound plays in over 34,400 posts – a number that’s sure to grow as the song continues to enchant different parts of the globe.
Vybz Kartel’s comeback may be giving dancehall all the airtime, but pay attention to the soca scene too! — KD