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: A new Gracie Abrams hit bumps a similarly titled old favorite, Lil Baby scores a viral hit with an unlikely guest verse and The Penguin starts to show its value as a TV synch source.

‘Sorry’ Not Sorry: Gracie Abrams’ Viral Hit Becomes Her Highest-Charting Hot 100 Entry

On Tuesday night, Gracie Abrams wrapped up the U.S. leg of her The Secret of Us tour in Philadelphia, which found the singer-songwriter playing to her biggest audiences yet following the June release of her sophomore album; three days after that final headlining show, she’ll be in Miami, back as an opener on Taylor Swift’s Eras tour through the stadium trek’s conclusion in December. Along with the two high-profile tours, Abrams has watched a pair of her songs — including her latest single from The Secret of Us — take off on U.S. streaming services, yielding what is now her biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit to date.

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The lilting strum-along “I Love You, I’m Sorry” has been a topic of discussion on social media for weeks — first with pop fans arguing over the quality of its official music video and Abrams’ gentle performance on the song, then with a TikTok trend supporting Abrams’ vocal take (literally called “whisper allegation beater”), and finally with a Vevo live performance of the track that fans rallied behind following its Oct. 2 release. The chatter has helped the song’s weekly U.S. on-demand streams soar from 7.38 million during the week ending Sept. 5 to 11.35 million during the week ending Oct. 10, according to Luminate.

As those streams have helped “I Love You, I’m Sorry” streak upward on the Hot 100 — moving up from No. 53 to No. 31 on this week’s tally, Abrams’ first solo top 40 entry — an older Abrams song, “I Miss You, I’m Sorry,” has also benefitted, thanks to longtime fans championing the 2020 track that belatedly received a titular callback. “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” earned 2.5 million streams during the week ending Sept. 5, but in the most recent tracking week, that number had jumped to 3.73 million — a 48% gain over those five weeks, not too far off from the 53% jump for “I Love You, I’m Sorry.” – JASON LIPSHUTZ

No Hate for Lil Baby’s Guest Verse on Italian Rapper’s ‘Canzone D’Odio’

Just a couple years after unquestionably being one of the most ubiquitous rappers in popular music, Lil Baby’s mainstream presence has been a little more sparse the past couple years. But now he might be on his way back to another viral hit with as a guest rapper – no surprise there, except for the artist he’s supporting: Italian MC Lazza, whose Italian-language single “Canzone D’Odio” (in English: “Hate Song”) Baby has turned up on, with a verse in English. 

“Canzone” originally appeared on Lazza’s Locura album – the rapper’s third straight set to top Italy’s FIMI Albums Chart – before catching fire internationally online. Listeners were of course intrigued by hearing such a recognizable American voice on an otherwise Italian-language song, leading to the song climbing to No. 2 on Shazam’s United States top 200 chart. Fans have flooded the YouTube comments for the video in praise of Baby’s guest verse, with many wishing for a version of the song with just his part. 

The song has also begun to ignite on streaming services as well. The song has grown by over 300% in official on-demand U.S. streams each of the last two weeks, according to Luminate, and posted over one million streams during the past tracking week, ending Oct. 10. That’s not enough yet to really threaten a Hot 100 bow – but if the song continues to grow from here, the new collaborators may be “cin cin”-ing to Lil Baby’s 142nd career entry on the chart before long. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

‘The Penguin’ Synchs March to Greater Streaming Numbers

Back in the ‘90s, a big Batman placement for a pop song was one of the surest paths to pop success: Just ask Seal, who had his lone Hot 100 No. 1 hit with a Batman Forever soundtrack single (“Kiss From a Rose” in 1995). While the Christopher Nolan-era Dark Knight trilogy of the early 21st century wasn’t as interested in creating big musical moments, Batman refound its pop footing in 2022 with The Batman, which created a chart hit out of grunge legends Nirvana’s once-deep cut “Something in the Way” – even getting the 30-plus-year-old Nevermind-closing ballad onto the Hot 100 for the first time.

Now, the Gothamverse is aiding the music world again, thanks to the well-received new HBO crime drama The Penguin, starring Colin Farrell as the titular villain (anti-hero?) and taking place after the events of the 2022 Batman. The bumps for songs featured are thusfar more modestly scaled than “Something in the Way” post-The Batman, but synth-pop outfit Floor Cry’s cover of the Turtles’ 1967 pop classic “Happy Together” spiked 616% to nearly 93,000 weekly official on-demand U.S. streams in the two weeks after the moody rendition was featured over the end credits to The Penguin’s second episode. Similarly, EDM duo Bob Moses’ seething electro-funk banger “Broken Belief” was up 1,779% for the week ending Oct. 10, to nearly 81,000 streams, after being featured in an episode three montage. 

Given the muscle it’s already showing with its synchs, it might only be a matter of time before The Penguin finds the right hit, new or old, to put back over the top – “Earth Angel,” perhaps? – 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.  This week: Netflix has a new hit series on its hands and many alt-pop artists are benefiting from it, an ’00s indie rock classic proves timeless once again, it’s Girl in Red season again and much more.

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‘Nobody Wants This,’ But Lots of People Want the Soundtrack

The new Netflix series Nobody Wants This is one of the breakout hits of this late-2024 TV season, with good reviews and word-of-mouth buzz spreading the Kristen Bell and Adam Brody co-starring series – about the romantic relationship between a podcaster and a rabbi, and the reactions of their respective families and communities – all over social media and pop culture. That of course extends to the series’ soundtrack, which is stacked with synchs from some of the most popular and acclaimed alt-pop artists of the past decade-plus, as well as some exciting new up-and-comers. 

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Perhaps the biggest beneficiary so far has been Francis and the Lights’ “See Her Out (That’s Just Life),” which plays in multiple key scenes in the season, including during the first kiss between Bell’s and Brody’s characters. The song racked up 432,000 official on-demand streams in the U.S. last week (ending Oct. 3) following the show’s Sept. 26 debut, up from just 13,000 streams the prior frame – an eye-popping gain of 3,157%, according to Luminate. Multiple songs from star sister trio HAIM are also featured, with the group’s “Now I’m in It” jumping 120% to 177,000 streams over the same period, while “You & I” from veteran Swedish pop singer-songwriter LÉON is also up 245% to 196,000. 

The series has also had a big impact on the catalog of newer singer-songwriter Anna Graves, who has a couple songs featured in the series. Her “Fly” is up 304% to 63,000 streams over this period, while her “When the Love Is Gone” spikes 615% to 41,000 streams. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Wait, They Don’t TikTok Like I TikTok: Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Maps’ Gets a Viral Trend

Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps”: early-00’s classic, timeless alt-rock love song, iconic music video, the anthem that unwittingly launched Karen O and co. towards indie stardom. And now, more than 20 years after the 2003 single’s release, “Maps” is getting the viral treatment on TikTok thanks to the “Maps Dance,” in which a remixed version of the song soundtracks users shaking their hips and hitting them with their hands, then pausing (or moving in slow motion) when Karen O declares, “Wait!,” as in, “Wait! They don’t love you like I love you!”

The TikTok trend has helped “Maps” nearly double in U.S. on-demand weekly streams over a two-week period: the YYYs track earned 1.49 million streams during the week ending on Oct. 3, according to Luminate, up from 766,000 streams for the week ending Sept. 19. “Maps” crept onto the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 87 in 2004; depending on how this trend grows, maybe the Yeah Yeah Yeahs can hip-shake back onto the chart two decades later. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

‘Joker’ Sequel & Harlequin LP Lift Lady Gaga’s Jazz Catalog 

Although Joker: Folie à Deux has suffered from dismal reviews and a disastrous box office performance, there is a silver lining for the film’s leading lady. Lady Gaga, who portrays Harley Quinn in the new film, injects the Joker sequel with her love for jazz standards, which spilled over into both Harlequin, her new Billboard chart-topping companion album featuring both covers and original cuts, and even to a couple her older jazz collections. 

According to Luminate, combined official on-demand U.S. streams for Cheek to Cheek and Love for Sale – Gaga’s two Grammy-winning duets albums with the late Tony Bennett – have risen 30% since the release of Harlequin (Sept. 27). During the period of Sept. 20-26, the two LPs earned about 380,000 combined official on-demand U.S. streams. That figure ballooned to over 490,000 combined streams in the week following Harlequin’s release (Sept. 27-Oct. 3). It’s unlikely – but not completely out of the question – that Harlequin will launch a Hot 100 hit, but its arrival has spurred some gains for Gaga’s non-pop catalog. A win is a win! 

Latto Squeezes Another Streaming Hit Out of ‘Sugar Honey Iced Tea’ 

Latto’s Billboard chart-topping Sugar Honey Iced Tea already boasts streaming hits like “Big Mama” and “Brokey,” and it looks like “Georgia Peach,” the record’s intro, could join those ranks. 

Bolstered by a rise in social media adoration for the song – alongside the album and Latto in general – official on-demand U.S. streams for “Georgia Peach” have risen over 83% from Sept. 27-20 to Oct. 4-7, according to Luminate. During the period of Sept. 27-30, the Southern hip-hop banger collected over 588,000 streams, which rose to over 1.07 million streams during the period of Oct. 4-7. On TikTok, the official “Georgia Peach” sound boasts nearly 30,000 clips, while an unofficial upload soundtracks a further 13,000 videos. 

Although “Georgia Peach” does have an official music video, it’s rise in popularity isn’t tied to that clip, a dance trend or anything else. Should its streams continue to rise, “Georgia Peach” could become the fourth Hot 100 entry from Sugar Honey Iced Tea. — KD

Q&A: Sarah Patellos, Head of Spotify Music Studios, on What’s Trending Up in Her World

How did the Spotify Anniversaries series idea form?

This concept was born as a result of a few creative inspirations from our team. We wanted to find a way to celebrate iconic catalog music, especially as we’ve seen listeners engage positively in that space over the past few years. Our Los Angeles Spotify Studio is an incredible space that has always birthed creativity, so the idea of bringing artists into the space to revisit their classics as a series felt like it had a lot of potential. It would give existing fans something new to experience, while engaging new fans in discovering the music for the first time.

From that initial internal excitement, we started to build out what the series would be. On that would exist through music and video. Knowing that every project’s lifespan is unique, our thought was to allow for a flexible anniversary window that made sense for each album and artists’ milestones.  That gave us a wide canvas to find the right projects to bring back to life.

How did you decide on the artists and projects that made sense for the series, and what goes into each one?

Spotify Anniversaries celebrates the staying power of iconic albums. We’ve worked with artists from different genres, but the throughline is the timelessness of the projects we’re celebrating. From Isaiah Rashad’s EP Cilvia Demo to Weezer’s The Blue Album to Christina Aguilera’s debut album Christina Aguilera – we are honored to have the opportunity to help celebrate these anniversaries.

For each episode, we invite the artists to perform 4-6 songs from the project, ideally both the hits and the tracks that embody this milestone for the project. We partner closely with the artist to create an environment in our Spotify Studio that feels aesthetically right for the project and their vision, but keep it really focused on the live performance and the quality of the studio recording.

What have been some highlights thus far?

Our first episode with Isaiah Rashad felt incredibly special – he is such a captivating performer and really set the stage for the vision of this series. For Christina Aguilera, her special guests Ron Fair, Heather Holley, mgk and Sabrina Carpenter brought a unique element to the making of the project, while also reimagining and bringing new life to it.

Weezer was also a highlight. The band chose the direction to perform facing each other, which led to a really natural conversation and allowed the meaning of the project amongst the band to shine beautifully. Not only were the songs being revisited, but watching the band connect face-to-face created a unique experience, and that’s one of the reasons why that episode in particular has been so impactful. It’s a great example how artists can take the series and steer it into their own creative space.

How has Spotify Anniversaries impacted engagement with those projects on the Spotify platform?

The beauty of this project is that is led by music, but supported by video on socials and YouTube. Each Spotify Anniversaries episode has a live EP that lives exclusively on platform. We’ve seen incredible responses to each EP release – the Christina/Sabrina collab was even seen on New Music Friday and Teen Beats. The more this program grows, the more ways we are testing the use of other products to make this even more layered. – JL

Season’s Gainings: Leaves Turning, Pumpkin Spice Lattes Arriving & Girl in Red Rising

If Earth, Wind & Fire’s moment has already passed and you’re not hearing Ray Parker Jr. and Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers everyone just yet, that must mean it’s Girl in Red season. As happens annually around this time of year, the Norwegian singer-songwriter born Marie Ulven Ringheim is rising on streaming with her indie-pop modern classic “We Fell in Love in October” – with the song racking up 3.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams over the first four days of the month, a 73% gain from the 2.1 million combined streams of the prior four-day period. The song even hit a new all-time peak of No. 38 on the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA chart, suggesting that folks are falling even more in love with Girl in Red this October. – 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: Ryan Murphy’s new FX series about the Menendez Brothers inspires streaming gains for a heavily featured late-’80s act, dance crazes help a new viral hit by Odetari and an old one by Freak Nasty, and can you believe it’s Sept. 21 again already?

‘Menendez Story’ Drives Streaming Gains for Milli Vanilli’s Catalog 

The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story – the latest installment in Ryan Murphy’s Monsters anthology series – has unsurprisingly inspired loads of controversy and discourse, but it’s also inspired some new interest in Milli Vanilli’s catalog. 

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The vocal duo, best known for their three 1989 Hot 100 chart-toppers and the infamous revocation of their best new artist Grammy after being exposed for lip-syncing,also plays a key musical role in the first few episodes of Menendez Story. The opening episode features three of their biggest hits — “Girl You Know It’s True,” “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” and “Blame It on the Rain” — even earning its title from the latter. Though the events of Menendez story take place several years after Milli Vanilli’s reign, the duo’s music is used to help set the scene and explore the two brothers’ friendship. 

“Blame It On the Rain,” the most prominently featured Milli Vanilli track in the series, posted at 68% increase in streaming activity, going from 75,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of Sept. 13-16 to over 125,000 streams in the four-day period following the series premiere on Netflix (Sept. 20-23). Similarly, “Girl You Know It’s True” jumped 32.5% in streaming activity to nearly 135,000 streams (Sept. 20-23). “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” earned the biggest streaming increase out of all three tracks, exploding a whopping 258% from 28,000 streams (Sept. 13-16) to 103,000 streams (Sept. 20-23). Overall, streams for Milli Vanilli’s entire catalog leapt 114% after the release of Menendez Story, crossing 552,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of Sept. 20-23. – KYLE DENIS

‘Perfect Couple,’ Perfect Synch: Nicole Kidman Helps Meghan Trainor Dance Up in Streams

The Perfect Couple, the latest bestselling book-turned streaming series starring Nicole Kidman, has been a smash hit for Netflix since premiering earlier this month — and while the mystery involves a murder taking place at a posh wedding, the opening of each episode showcases a much lighter mood than the high-stakes family drama. Kidman, along with costars like Liev Schreiber and Meghann Fahy, spend the theme performing a full-cast, choreographed dance routine on a beach, turning in slow motion and clapping as a voice sings, “Anything that feels this good / Well, it must be illegal, it must be illegal.”

That voice belongs to Meghan Trainor, whose track “Criminals” serves as the theme song for The Perfect Couple after being featured on the deluxe edition of her June album Timeless. And the streaming synch has already helped “Criminals” triple up in streams compared to its pre-Perfect Couple numbers: after earning 263,000 U.S. on-demand streams the week prior to the show’s Sept. 5 premiere, according to Luminate, the song earned 972,000 streams during the week ending Sept. 19, along with 2,400 in weekly digital sales. 

While “Criminals” has yet to hit the Hot 100, the song’s rise is arriving at an enjoyable moment for Trainor, who’s celebrating the 10-year anniversary of “All About That Bass,” and performing at New York’s Madison Square Garden tonight. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Fraternity Rush Season Revives Freak Nasty’s “Da’ Dip” 

It’s still early in the school year, which means that rush season is in full effect. In a natural progression of the undergraduate fraternity rush process, many pledges now document their journeys to brotherhood on TikTok. Part of that process now includes filming adorably dorky TikTok dance trends – including the latest viral choreography to Freak Nasty’s 1997 smash “Da’ Dip.” 

 The dominant choreography template was originated by user @varsnikk earlier this year (Aug. 14), but as is the case with most TikTok dance trends, the moves have become more simplified as the trend became more viral. That original clip boasts over 700,000 views, while the official “Da’ Dip” TikTok sound now plays in nearly 350,000 posts. Several major stars have hopped on the trend – including Matthew Morrison and Ice Spice – but the recent uptick in engagement has been spurred in large part by “#pledgetok” videos. Essentially, pledges (prospective members of a fraternity) execute the dance trend while commenters around the world cheer on their awkward moves and laud their favorite “divas.” Normally, the young men are dressed in some combination of a navy sports jacket and khakis, and they execute the dance with fellow members of their pledge class. 

According to Luminate, “Da’ Dip” earned over 320,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of Sept. 13-19. That marks a 95% increase in streaming activity from three weeks prior (Aug. 23-29), when the beloved Miami bass track pulled in just over 165,000 streams. “Da’ Dip” has ballooned in streams for each of the past few weeks, helping the track notch a No. 16 debut on the Billboard TikTok Top 50 (chart dated Sept. 21). Should “Da’ Dip” continue its streaming revival, Freak Nasty could add a few more chart accolades to the No. 15 Hot 100 peak the track earned back in 1997. – KD

Numbers Going Strong: Odetari Manages to ‘Keep Up’ Momentum With New Viral Hit

In January, Billboard Dance editor Katie Bain wrote a digital cover story about Odetari (along with frequent collaborator 6arelyhuman) asking if they were the future of dance music; eight months later, the former is providing further evidence that he just might be. His adrenalized new single “Keep Up” – which sounds like the perfect gamer soundtrack, down to its verses even lifting a bit of the melody from the classic Sonic the Hedgehog Green Hill Zone theme – has been steadily taking off since its July release. 

Sonic edits have actually played a big part in the song’s viral success on TikTok – including a couple posted by the producer himself – to the point where a Change.org petition to get the song included in the third Sonic the Hedgehog movie is just a few hundred signatures away from its 5,000 goal. An associated dance has also played a major part in the song’s social media proliferation, with the song’s rapid pace making it a particular degree-of-difficulty challenge. 

It’s all added up to help “Keep Up” increase by millions of streams over the past few weeks. The song racked up 4.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams for the week ending Sept. 19, which is up 91% from where it was three weeks earlier, according to Luminate. It’s already on No. 21 on the Bubbling Under chart – so if it keeps it up, Odetari might not be too far away from his first-ever Hot 100 hit. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Season’s Gainings: “September,” Remembered Once More

If you missed observing September Day this year, you’d probably be forgiven – it came over the weekend, and once again with no Demi Adejuyigbe celebratory viral video, with the writer/comedian having retired from his once-annual duties in 2021. But fear not, plenty still remembered the 21st night of September: Earth, Wind & Fire‘s signature 1979 smash racked up a little over 1.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams on Saturday, a 144% gain from the previous week. That is down just a little from the nearly 1.8 mil the song pulled on Sept. 21, 2023, though – so if anyone wants to pick up the torch from Adejuyigbe before the song really starts to reverse momentum and risk losing its perennial status, you’ve got a year to figure out how. – 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. 

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

This week: VMAs winners and performers get a nice uptick in streams and sales, an outpouring of posthumous affection for Frankie Beverly results in huge gains in consumption for the Maze catalog, and Britney Spears fans have a very unusual day of celebration for one of her exes.

The VMAs Bump: Chappell Roan, Benson Boone, ‘Fortnight’ & More of the Night’s Winners See Gains

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As usual, the big wins from MTV’s 41st annual Video Music Awards on Wednesday (Sept. 11) came not only on stage, but also in the days that followed on DSPs and music retailers. A number of the reigning artists from last week — both in terms of moonpeople taken home and major performances delivered on stage — enjoyed strong gains in the consumption of their catalogs and hits following the awards show.

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And as has often been the case so far in 2024, perhaps the biggest winner there was Chappell Roan. The rising alt-pop star took home the award for best new artist, and also had perhaps the most highly anticipated (and later-buzzed-about) performance of the night, playing breakout hit “Good Luck, Babe!” in medieval armor, flanked by an array of dancing swordsmen. Over the three days following the VMAs (Sept. 12-14), “Good Luck, Babe!” racked up 9.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 2,700 digital song sales — gains of 20% and 152%, respectively, from the three-day period prior to the VMAs (Sept. 8-10), according to Luminate — while her entire catalog combined for 41.6 million streams and 6,5000 sales over that same period, gains of 22% and 116%, respectively. (In an average week, songs will often stream better from Thursday to Saturday than from Sunday to Tuesday, though usually not to such a sizable degree.)

Chappell wasn’t the only winner-performer to see such gains: Benson Boone, whose glammed-out and acrobatic performance of “Beautiful Things” was one of the evening’s highlights, also saw a 20% streaming gain (to 6.9 million streams) for his now-signature hit over the same period, while also rising 210% in sales (to 3,800). Meanwhile, Karol G lost the only award she was nominated for on the evening, but her delightful, high-energy performance of current Billboard Hot 100 top 40 hit “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” connected enough with viewers for it to see a 25% streaming bump over that period (to 5.7 million) while also rising 164% in sales (to over 800).

And of course, there was Taylor Swift — who did not perform on the evening, but did take the stage twice, to accept best collaboration and video of the year, along with Post Malone, for their Hot 100-topping team-up “Fortnight.” The evening’s big award winner was up 26% in streams over that period, to 3.6 million, while also rising 235% to over 700 in sales. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Before We Let You Go: Frankie Beverly’s Passing Spurs Massive Catalog Gains 

Frankie Beverly, an R&B and soul legend who has soundtracked generations of Black gatherings from cookouts to graduations, unfortunately passed on Sept. 10 at age 77, yet another tragic loss for the music industry this month. 

As the iconic voice behind anthems such as 1981’s “Before I Let Go,” Beverly’s music had an incalculable impact on countless listeners, particularly Black Americans, despite a relatively short list of appearances on the Billboard charts across his six-decade career. According to Luminate, Beverly’s catalog streams (credited to Maze feat. Frankie Beverly) jumped a whopping 970% from just over 690,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of Sept. 8-10 to over 7.4 million in the three-day period following his passing (Sept. 11-13). 

Two of Beverly’s biggest hits with Maze, “Before I Let Go” and 1980’s “Joy and Pain,” received particularly notable bumps. The former, which Beyoncé notably covered in 2019 (and brought to No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100), leapt 540% over that period, from 156,000 streams to just over 997,000 streams. Similarly, “Joy and Pain” ballooned a massive 1,200% from just over 50,000 to over 654,000 streams. Moreover, Beverly’s passing also spurred fans to purchase tracks across his discography, with he and Maze’s catalog scoring a 9,308% boost in sales activity. During Sept. 8-10, they sold just 95 digital tracks; by Sept. 11-13, that figure rose to over 8,900 digital tracks sold. – KYLE DENIS

You Want a Song to Soar on Streaming as a Kevin Federline Diss? You Better ‘Work Bitch’

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Last Thursday (Sept. 12), Jayden James Federline, the youngest son of Britney Spears and ex-husband Kevin Federline, turned 18 years old — and Britney fans were well aware, having circled the date in their calendars as the reported end of Spears’ child support payments to Federline, now that their two sons were no longer minors. Although reports of those child support payments ending last week have been disputed, fans engaged in a bit of Federline dunking on the big day by streaming Spears’ 2013 single “Work Bitch” — i.e., the song in which the pop superstar declares that, if you want anything extravagant in this life, you better work for it (bitch).

The lampooning resulted in tangible streaming gains for the track: daily official on-demand U.S. streams for “Work Bitch” jumped 35% between Sept. 11 and 12, from 47,000 streams to 64,000 streams, according to Luminate. It’s time to wonder what Britney Jean track could receive a similar revival — maybe “Chillin With You” with Jamie Lynn, if Spears and her sister ever make amends? – 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. 

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

This week: Linkin Park’s second act is off to a remarkable start on streaming, Rich Homie Quan’s catalog skyrockets on streaming after his tragic passing, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce give an ’00s classic a singalong bump and much more.

Linkin Park’s Streaming Catalog Soars Following Comeback News

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Next week’s Hot 100 chart will likely feature a new Linkin Park single — a sentence that would have seemed improbable just one week ago. Yet the band’s return, as covered in Billboard’s exclusive cover story last Thursday (Sept. 5), has produced new arena tour dates (kicking off tonight at The Forum in Los Angeles), a new studio album (From Zero, out Nov. 15) and a high-powered new song, “The Emptiness Machine,” that’s off to a hot start at streaming.

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After being released at 6 pm ET on Thursday as Linkin Park launched into a global livestream performance, “The Emptiness Machine” earned 2.22 million U.S. on-demand audio streams on Friday, its first full day of release, according to Luminate. The single hovered about one million U.S. audio streams over the next three days, and ended its first full four-day stretch with 6.47 million streams, while also racking up over 6,000 in digital sales — likely setting it on pace for a big Hot 100 bow. 

Yet Linkin Park’s return is also boosting the band’s back catalog and biggest hits, as listeners revisit their past albums before receiving a new one in November. From Sept. 6-9, the band’s catalog (minus “The Emptiness Machine”) earned 30.11 million combined U.S. audio streams — a 62% increase compared to the same four-day period during the previous week. That spike also included big week-over-week gains for hits like “Numb” (up 60%), “One Step Closer” (up 76%) and “Faint” (up nearly 100%), as fans heard new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong sing all three during the band’s livestream and wanted to hear the classic versions, too. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Rich Homie Quan Catalog Surges on Streaming Following Rap Great’s Death

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The hip-hop world was shaken last week (Sept. 5) by the tragic news of Rich Homie Quan’s death at the age of just 33. The Atlanta rapper, whose real name was Dequantes Devontay Lamar, had been one of hip-hop’s leading hitmakers of the mid-2010s, during a time in which his home city essentially took over as the U.S.’s rap capital. Over the days that followed, tributes poured in from Quan’s collaborators and contemporaries, saluting both the man and artist and expressing shock over his premature passing. 

Fans of Rich Homie Quan of course also expressed their grief by streaming his music in massive numbers. Over Sept. 2-4, the three days before his death, the rapper amassed 1.7 combined million official on-demand U.S. streams for his solo catalog as a lead artist – but that number skyrocketed to 31.7 million total over the following three days, according to Luminate, an eye-popping gain of 1,727%. Leading songs from his catalog over that period include his Hot 100 hits “Type of Way” (4.5 million combined streams, a 1,892% gain) and “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)” (3.6 million streams, up 1,666%). 

Those numbers do not account, however, for perhaps the song most celebrated on social media following Quan’s passing: “Lifestyle,” his classic 2014 team-up with Atlanta rap icon Young Thug, released under the collective name Rich Gang. Over the same period, “Lifestyle” was up to 4.7 million combined streams, a 598% gain from the previous three-day period. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

The Taylor Bump: Works for ‘00s Retro-Rockers as Well as Presidential Candidates

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Taylor Swift made global headlines on Tuesday night (Sept. 10) with her official endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, announcing her support of the current vice president with a social media blast following Harris’ debate with former president Donald Trump. The impact of the biggest figure in contemporary pop culture’s co-sign will likely be major — but Harris isn’t the only person benefiting from the Taylor Swift Bump this week.

On Sunday (Sept. 8), Swift attended the U.S. Open men’s tennis finals in Queens, New York (featuring another Taylor in American finalist Taylor Fritz), along with celebrity beau Travis Kelce. There, the pair were spotted singing (and even air-guitaring) along to a ’00s classic — “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” signature hit for ’00s U.K. retro-rockers The Darkness — with Swift of course dramatically pantomiming the lyrics as well.

Click here for the full story on The Darkness’ Taylor/Travis streaming bump. – AU

‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Has the Recipe for a “MacArthur Park” Revival

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For the recently released box office-topping film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – sequel, of course, to the cult classic 1988 comedy Beetlejuice – the filmmakers wanted to recreate the magic of the first film’s famous cast lip sync scene, set to Harry Belafonte’s “Banana Boat (Day-O).” They didn’t want to re-use Belafonte’s ‘50s staple for the scene, however, so they decided to go with something very, very slightly more modern for the 36-years-later sequel: “MacArthur Park,” the bizarre Jimmy Webb-penned psych-pop rhapsody that became a No. 2 Hot 100 hit for actor-singer Richard Harris in 1968, before Donna Summer took her discofied version of it all the way to No. 1 in 1978. 

Since appearing in the hit sequel, “MacArthur Park” has been rising on streaming, with the Harris version featured in the film racking up over 110,000 U.S. on-demand audio streams from Sept. 8-11 – the film’s four days of release – a 939% gain over the same period in the prior tracking week, according to Luminate. Summer’s version, which also appears on the film soundtrack, has been a similar beneficiary – it’s up 241% to 98,000 streams over the same period – and Belafonte’s “Day-O,” which only appears on the soundtrack through a cover version from Alfie Davis & The Sylvia Young Theatre School Choir, is also up 52% to 485,000 streams. – AU

Season’s Gainings: Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl Announcement Strikes a Chord on DSPs

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The NFL season has kicked off once again, and even if you weren’t following the action on Sunday (Sept. 8), you might’ve still felt the excitement of football’s return – thanks to the early-day announcement that the upcoming Super Bowl LIX in New Orelans would be headlined by rapper-of-the-moment Kendrick Lamar. The announcement was met with some controversy, as many rap purists voiced their support for Big Easy hip-hop icon Lil Wayne as an alternate headliner, but plenty of streaming listeners were evidently still pumped by a prospective K Dot set – the rapper’s total streams for Monday were over 11.6 million, according to Luminate, a 12% gain from the prior Monday. – AU

Taylor Swift made global headlines on Tuesday night (Sept. 10) with her official endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, announcing her support of the current vice president with a social media blast following Harris’ debate with former president Donald Trump. The impact of the biggest figure in contemporary pop culture’s co-sign will likely be […]

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. 

Explore

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See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

This week: The Marias score a breakout hit with help from a superstar cosign, Bossman Dlow makes approximately his 73rd Trending Up appearance of 2024 and Surf Curse are back with another new hit from the decade prior.

Marias Put Internet on “Notice” With Help From Billie Eilish

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It’s been one of the feel-good stories about one of the feel-bad hits of the year. indie-pop favorites The Marias, who song in both English and Spanish and previously made the Hot 100 in 2022 as guests on the dreamy “Otro Atardecer” from Bad Bunny’s blockbuster Un Verano Sin Ti album, have seen their “No One Noticed” slowly get massive on TikTok over the past few months, with audiences finding the sighing summer-bummer anthem (especially the “Come on, don’t leave me it can’t be that easy, babe/If you believe me I guess I’ll get on a plane” breakdown section) invaluable in soundtracking their seasonal sadness. Among the more high-profile of those fans: alt-pop superstar Billie Eilish, whose July 17 posting on her IG stories of her singing along to the song helped accelerate its viral velocity.

Trending on Billboard

For the chart week ending July 18, the song scored 1.5 million official on-demand streams, according to Luminate. But following the Eilish share, the song has grown between 10 and 30 percent in streams in each of the six weeks since — reaching 4.7 million for the week ending Aug. 29, a 223% gain in total. The song has since climbed to No. 12 on Billboard‘s Hot Rock Songs chart and even jumps 13-6 on this week’s Bubbling Under Hot 100, getting that much closer to joining the four still-charting hits from Billie’s own Hit Me Hard and Soft on the Hot 100 proper. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Bossman Dlow Adds Another Hit to His Arsenal with Luh Tyler’s “2 Slippery” 

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Another week, another hit for Bossman Dlow, one of 2024’s biggest breakout stars. The Florida rapper has previously appeared in the column this year, and he’s back again as the featured artist on “2 Slippery,” a Luh Tyler song that’s picking up steam on streaming. 

According to Luminate, “2 Slippery” earned over 4.5 million streams during the week of Aug. 23-29. That marks a whopping 82% increase from a month ago (July 25-Aug. 1), during which the song pulled around 2.48 million streams. Streams for “2 Slippery” have increased ebery week for the past month, with the biggest increase coming last week. That 4.5 million figure was a 42.3% increase from the 3.17 million streams the song pulled the week prior (Aug. 16-22).

TikTok has unsurprisingly been the song’s biggest source of traction. A trend giving recognition to the “big dawgs” among us – more specifically, men whose height starts with a “6” and weight starts with a “2.” Users who fit that description film themselves mouthing these lyrics from Bossman Dlow’s verse: “Tired of fuckin’ with them lames, come fuck with some bosses, baby/ She don’t want no puppy, she want a big dog.” On TikTok, the official “2 Slippery” sound boasts over 38,200 posts, with other popular clips including footage of NBA star Anthony Edwards jamming to Dlow’s music, workout videos, and strolling videos from various Black Greek letter organizations. 

“2 Slippery” is the latest single from Luh Tyler’s new Mr. Skii LP, which recently entered the Billboard 200 at No. 197, marking his first appearance on the chart. — KYLE DENIS

A Surf Blessing and a Surf Curse: Band Scores Second Viral Hit With Second Five-Plus-Year-Old Song

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Indie surf rockers Surf Curse first made national noise in 2020, when their song “Freaks” became one of the most popular sounds on TikTok during the early days of the COVID pandemic. By that point, the song was already nearly a decade old — having originally been released on their 2013 album Buds — and despite signing to major label Atlantic in 2021, subsequent 2022 LP Magic Hour failed to produce another streaming hit near the level of “Freaks.” In 2024, however, the band finally has a second hit on its hands — and of course, it’s once again from the pre-pandemic era.

“Disco” is a little newer than “Freaks” was when it took off, at least, having originally dropped in 2019 as lead single to the band’s third album Heaven Surrounds You. But the song has really taken off in the past month, once again thanks to TikTok, where “Disco” has (appropriately) caught on as a dance challenge. No mirrorballs or bell bottoms needed for this one, however: Users instead use the song’s new-wavey chorus to soundtrack clips of them and a partner throwing their arms in different directions in tandem to the refrain’s staccato first half, then doing a kind of twist together as the full groove kicks in, before repeating the steps.

The challenge has helped “Disco” explode on streaming, as the single pulled 2.8 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending Aug. 29 — up 351% from three weeks earlier. The band can at least take heart now that it’s not too late for one of the cuts from Magic Hour to have a big moment of its own; they may just have to wait for the early 2030s. — 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. 

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

This week: Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ new duet keeps growing, Taylor Swift’s second Tortured Poets single is finding a home on radio, and Gigi Perez may be the next singer-songwriter on the verge of a big mainstream breakthrough.

“Die With a Smile” Looking to Live in the Hot 100’s Top 10

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A duet between Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars was always going to generate a lot of interest upon release, and “Die With a Smile,” the anthemic pop-rock collaboration released on Friday (Aug. 16), is hoping to cash in that star power for a splashy debut within the Hot 100’s upper reaches. And though that might have looked like a longshot from the duet’s first-day numbers, it has been growing over the course of its first week – and now a top-tier debut might very well be in reach for it. 

Trending on Billboard

After bowing with 2.78 million U.S. on-demand audio streams in its opening day, according to Luminate, “Smile” stayed around that daily streaming mark over the weekend. However, the song received a sizable streaming uptick on Monday (Aug. 19), with 3.52 million streams — a 34% gain from the day before. And the song just keeps growing – by publishing this Wednesday, the song had reached the top of both the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA and the real-time Apple Music charts. (The song has also performed very well in digital song sales, with over 14,000 sold over its first four days of release, as it has stayed atop the iTunes chart for nearly the entire time.) 

Maybe more pop fans latched onto the song as the work week got underway, or it’s possible that TikTok users have started sinking their teeth into its hooks. Either way, “Smile” could possibly notch another top 10 on the long track records of Mars and Gaga early next week. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

How Big of a Hit Can Taylor Swift’s ‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’ Become?

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On Tuesday night (Aug. 20), Taylor Swift capped off a five-night run at the U.K.’s Wembley Stadium, and the European run of the Eras tour, by unveiling a new music video for “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” that featured behind-the-scenes clips of the mega-selling tour. The anthem about shining in the spotlight amidst personal turmoil is featured on The Tortured Poets Department, which logs its 15th frame at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week.

And unlike “Fortnight,” the album’s lead single featuring Post Malone that debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, “Broken Heart” has slowly been climbing back up the chart, and becoming a multi-platform hit.

Read more about Taylor Swift’s swelling “Broken Heart” success here.

“Sailor Song” Charts Course to Virality for Singer/Songwriter Gigi Perez

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New Jersey-born, Florida-raised Gigi Perez achieved some streaming success earlier in the 2020s with the ballad “Sometimes (Backwood),” which has racked up nine digits worth of streams on Spotify. But the singer-songwriter, whose sound is reminiscent of ‘00s alt-folk favorites like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, appears to be headed for new levels of virality with her TikTok-approved new love song, “Sailor Song.” 

The long-teased song has earned raves, and even some comparisons to Hozier’s “Take Me to Church,” for its impassioned delivery and lyrics of queer love and longing – while also attracting some backlash from religious TikTokers who object to its “I don’t believe in God/ But I believe that you’re my savior” chorus lyric. Perez responded to the controversy, and users asking her to change or remove that lyric, with a TikTok of her own on Monday (Aug. 19), explaining via caption that altering the lyric “was never up for discussion… My songwriting is not a democracy and that applies to every artists work.” 

The discourse around “Sailor Song” has only helped its overall consumption, however. While it debuted with 3.9 million U.S. official on-demand streams on the tracking week ending Aug. 1, according to Luminate – already a tremendous number for a new song by an artist without extensive chart history – two weeks later, that number has climbed to 4.6 million, a 23% gain. The song also climbs from No. 18 to No. 12 on Hot Rock Songs this week, one of the chart’s top gainers. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER