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: 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. 

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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. 

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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

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: Billie Eilish sees big gains for two different songs thanks to two different live performances, Lewis Capaldi gets a big spot in the summer’s biggest romance, and Brat Summer makes room for one of the album’s big collaborators to have a hit of his own.

Au Revoir! Olympics Closing Ceremony Boosts Phoenix, “Nightcall” & More

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The closing ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics capped off a riveting two-week athletic showcase at the Stade de France on Sunday night (Aug. 11) by once again toasting this year’s host city of Paris, as well as looking ahead to the 2028 summer games in Los Angeles. As such, the ceremony combined a showcase for French indie-rock stalwarts Phoenix — who were joined onstage by Air, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig and French producer Kavinsky, among others — with performances from L.A. natives like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish and Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.

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Fifteen years after breaking through with hits like “1901” and “Lisztomania,” Phoenix reintroduced themselves to the American mainstream, and received a sizable streaming bump: the band’s catalog rose 86%, to 1.12 million U.S. on-demand audio streams from Aug. 11-12 from the same two-day period the previous week (603,000 streams from Aug. 4-5), according to Luminate. Meanwhile, Kavinsky’s 2010 synthwave single “Nightcall” became a Shazam sensation after being featured in the ceremony, as the track grew 74% to 208,000 streams from Aug. 11-12, compared to 119,000 streams during Aug. 4-5.

And while West Coast anthems like RHCP’s “By the Way” and Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode” made their Olympics bows, a current smash, Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” was the greatest gainer on the sales side: the track sold 4,200 digital downloads from Aug. 11-12, after moving under 1,000 units over the same time frame the previous week (Aug. 4-5). There’s nothing quite like playing your song on the world stage to help your top 10 hit climb a few spots higher. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Lewis Capaldi ‘Ends’ Up With His Most Viral Hit in Years, Thanks to Colleen Hoover Film Adaptation

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Back in 2019, the sound of Lewis Capaldi wailing about how he was getting kinda used to being someone you loved was absolutely omnipresent, as his breakout ballad “Someone You Loved” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and spread to all corners of pop culture. After scoring another top 10 hit the next year with “Before You Go,” hits have been relatively sparse for Capaldi in the U.S. But now, he’s got the most streaming momentum he’s had in several years – thanks to a movie that’s now dominating the culture the way “Someone You Loved” did a half-decade ago. 

It Ends With Us, the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s wildly popular 2022 romance novel, has become an immediate box office smash, earning $50 million in its first weekend – and has also consumed discussion online, thanks to reports of drama between its star Blake Lively and director/co-star Justin Baldoni. But it’s also boosting the performance of songs across its soundtrack, by artists ranging from indie rock sensation Ethel Cain (“Strangers”) to alt-pop superstar Lana Del Rey (“Cherry”). 

The biggest bump, however, has been for Capaldi’s big ballad “Love the Hell Out of You,” originally featured on his 2023 sophomore LP Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent. The song was never officially tabbed as a single, but it may be headed for belated focus-track status now that it’s been featured in Ends’ final scene and end credits. After “Love” earned under 40,000 U.S. on-demand audio streams combined from the period of Aug. 2-5, according to Luminate, that number exploded to over 675,000 for the same four-day period a week later, with the movie now in theaters – a gain of 1,620%, with the song still rising day-to-day. Seems like we might need to get kinda used to Capaldi being someone who’s unavoidable in our lives once again. – AU

Billie Eilish’s Next Big Hit? “Wildflower” Keeps Growing

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Billie Eilish is enjoying a flashy week in the upper reaches of the Hot 100 chart, where “Birds of a Feather” moves up three spots to a new peak of No. 7, while her appearance on the remix of Charli xcx’s “Guess” helps the song bow at No. 12. “Birds” has been the clear breakout hit from Eilish’s third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, thus far — but lower down on the Hot 100, “Wildflower,” the moody ballad that waxes poetic about crossing lines with a friend’s ex, is making noise, and being positioned as a potential fall-time follow-up hit for Eilish.

“Wildflower” has been boosted by a live acoustic performance for Amazon Music’s Songline series, which has earned 6.4 million YouTube views since posting on July 29, and inspired plenty of TikTok analyses of Eilish’s vocal showcase in the clip (“the pain in her voice it’s CRAAAZY,” declares one user). Two weeks ago, “Wildflower” earned 6.66 million U.S. on-demand streams during the chart week ending July 25, according to Luminate; that number grew to 9.08 million streams for the week ending Aug. 9, and as such, the song has leapt from No. 77 to No. 55 on the Hot 100 in two weeks’ time. That’s still a long way away from its No. 17 peak, back when Hit Me Hard and Soft was released in May — but don’t be surprised to watch it creep up closer to that ranking over the next month or two. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

The ‘Brat’ Summer Expanded Universe Is Now Boosting The Dare’s “Girls” 

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Among the starrier artists involved in the recent pop culture sensation that was “Guess” remix – which of course included original performer Charli XCX and new featured guest Billie Eilish, as well as the latter’s star collaborator brother Finneas in the production credits – appeared another name that might not be as familiar to mainstream audiences. Harrison Patrick Smith, better known as electro-rocker The Dare – paragon of the modern-day New York “indie sleaze” revival – was the co-producer on the original track, and even gets a shoutout from Charli herself in the “Guess” refrain (“Wear ’em, post ’em, might remix it/ Send them to The Dare, yeah, I think he’s with it”). 

Thanks to the bump in exposure from the “Guess” moment (and perhaps partly thanks to the increasing popularity of “indie sleaze”-related fan accounts on TikTok), The Dare is starting to see real movement on his underground breakout hit from 2022, “Girls.” The frisky and slightly dirtbaggy synth-rock anthem received 827,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending August, according to Luminate – a 261% gain from the 229,000 it posted two weeks before, pre-”Guess.” Indie sleaze may or may not officially be back – some say it never totally existed in the first place – but Brat Summer definitely just keeps getting bigger. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Q&A: Erika Elliott, Executive Artistic Director of SummerStage and The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, on What’s Trending Up in Her World

How did the programming of this year’s Charlie Parker Jazz Festival come together? 

The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, currently in its 32nd year and a part of Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage festival, is committed to honoring uniquely New York music traditions and cultural communities. Every year, we aim to present the best jazz musicians that are masters of the genre, as well as championing the next generations of jazz artists who are creating a name for themselves in the jazz world, while keeping an eye on gender equity – all for FREE!

How does the Jazz Fest fit into the larger SummerStage planning? 

Our mission at City Parks Foundation SummerStage is to celebrate the cultural communities of New York, and to connect New Yorkers to their public parks. These goals come together perfectly with The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival as the free program takes place in neighborhood parks located in Harlem and the Lower East Side. These communities fostered the growth of Jazz and were the actual communities of where Charlie Parker lived and worked. By celebrating and presenting jazz music in these neighborhoods, we are not only able to acknowledge the lasting legacy and impact of Parker, but honor the jazz roots in the NYC community.

Which trends within modern jazz are most exciting to highlight at this year’s festival? 

Overall, across both SummerStage and The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, the thing I find most exciting is the interest in the genre by both young musicians and audiences. There is a global scene that is developing now within jazz, with performers such as Ezra Collective and Yussef Dayes, and in the U.S. with acts like Dana and Alden and Anessa Strings – all who were presented by us this year at SummerStage. There is so much great talent out there, but most importantly young people (folks under 30) are listening and interested in jazz!

Fill in the blank: the performers that casual jazz fans need to discover this year are:

Ekep Nkwelle, Isaiah Collier, Helen Sung Feat. Chris Potter. – J.L.

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: a big new remix and bigger new video help a bonus Brat cut become the era’s biggest song yet, while a 2010 pop classic gets a bump from an unexpected fan and the Minions‘ esteemed musical representative strikes again.

Charli XCX’s ‘Guess’ Aiming for Big Hot 100 Bow After Streaming Boom

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Among the many tidings of Brat Summer has been the return of Charli XCX as a fixture on the Billboard Hot 100, a full decade after she helped engineer top 10 hits like Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” Icona Pop’s “I Love It” and her own “Boom Clap.” Brat hits like “360” (No. 44) and “Apple” (No. 66) have been climbing the chart after achieving varying states of virality, while the Lorde-assisted remix of “Girl, So Confusing” powered the song to No. 63 upon its June release.

Trending on Billboard

Those tracks have yet to crack the chart’s top 40 – but “Guess,” which is featured on the deluxe edition of Brat, almost certainly will next week. That’s largely thanks to Billie Eilish hopping on the track for the bonus cut’s remix — capturing the attention of the Internet with lyrics like “Charli likes boys, but she knows I’d hit it,” as well as for Eilish joining Charli on a mountain of underwear in the new version’s official music video (10,000 pairs of which were donated to the charity I Support The Girls following the video shoot).

Following the release of the song and video last Thursday (Aug. 1), streams for “Guess” exploded: in its first four full days of tracking (Aug. 2-5), the song scored 12.27 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate, after earning just 651,000 streams during the same period the previous week (July 26-29) prior to the remix release. Meanwhile, Eilish’s “Guess” appearance is pumping up the other Brat songs around it, with the album (minus “Guess”) up 12% in streams over that same period (from 23.3 million streams to 26.2 million). Don’t be shocked if “Guess” crashes the top 20 of the Hot 100 next week — and if Brat stays strong in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Kodak Black Brings Back “Bulletproof” With La Roux Singalong Clips

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Not many folks would’ve guessed Florida rapper Kodak Black as the artist to spark a revival of U.K. electro-poppers La Roux’s surprise 2010 crossover smash “Bulletproof.” But perhaps that’s why it created such newfound interest in the now decade-and-a-half-old pop classic, as footage of Kodak (who’d previously showed his love for the song and its video on an IG live) singing and beating his bare chest along to the cathartic chorus (while standing on his car and brushing his teeth) went viral across social media. Videographer Don James’ clip of the singalong, posted on July 21, attracted 2.6 million likes on TikTok, with countless fans complimenting the aura of the genre-crossing artist. 

Many of those fans have seemed unable to get the song out of their head since, as evidenced by its ballooning streaming numbers in the past couple weeks. After “Bulletproof” amassed just under 700,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending July 18, that number spiked 147% to 1.7 million for the next week, according to Luminate – and another 101% for the period after that, with the song racking up nearly 3.5 million spins for the week ending Aug. 1. Now that the Kodak Black Bump is a real thing, maybe other turn-of-the-’10s alt-pop favorites will look to enlist his help – Kate Nash, perhaps? Neon Trees? – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Pharrell Eyes Another ‘Despicable Me’ Hit With ‘Double Life’ 

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Pharrell Williams has been a dependable hitmaker for decades – and a fixture of the Minions-verse since his “Happy” (from Despicable Me 2) became one of the biggest pop hits of the 2010s. Both runs continue for Pharrell with “Double Life,” his breakout hit from the Despicable Me 4 soundtrack. 

Originally released on June 14 – about a month before the film hit theaters — “Double Life” earned some early traction due to some listeners interpreting the track as a lowkey diss to Drake (who threw shots at Skateboard P with his verse on Travis Scott’s “Meltdown” last summer). During the week of the film’s release (July 5-11), “Double Life” rose a staggering 141% in streams versus the week prior (June 28-July 4), logging 2.57 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. 

A few micro trends helped the song continue to increase in streams week after week, including a dance trend courtesy of Dossan Bell & Oliver Hincy, and another small trend built on its “I know you heard the rumors/ You must get over to it right away” lyric. During the week of July 26-Aug 1, the song earned its biggest streaming boost since the film’s release, jumping nearly 40% to 5.2 million official on-demand streams. That boost was due in large part to yet another trend built around the song’s lyrics: In essence, users playfully pretend to be living a double life by sharing a screenshot that appears to confirm them running both their personal TikTok account and that of a celebrity or brand, like Kamala HQ or Mr. Clean. As the photo set transitions from either a stock image of a question mark or a selfie of the user into the accounts that they “run,” Pharrell croons, “Who will you be tonight? That’s the question.” 

On TikTok, the official “Double Life” sounds boast a combined 486,000 clips, while two additional unofficial sounds built around the “that’s the question” snippet soundtrack a further 282,7000 clips. And on Tuesday (Aug. 7), shortly before announcing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris’ official campaign TikTok (@kamalahq) posted a teaser of her announcement using the “that’s the question” trend – with the clip scoring a whopping 2.2 million views. – 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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This week: Big movie soundtracks are back, as the classic hits-laden Deadpool and Wolverine and the modern country All-Stars-colleting Twisters both generate huge gains for their featured synchs upon their release, while a pair of very different artists get bumps from their memorable Olympics appearances and much more.

Deadpool & Wolverine & *NSYNC: Marvel Smash Boosts ‘Bye Bye Bye’ & More

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Last weekend at the box office, Deadpool and Wolverine tag-teamed to shatter records: the Marvel superhero crossover starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman grossed a staggering $205 million domestically in its opening weekend, earning the top debut of 2024 so far, and the biggest bow ever for an R-rated movie. Naturally, the success of a film full of popular music cues — the Deadpool & Wolverine soundtrack includes smashes from Fergie, Goo Goo Dolls, Huey Lewis and the News and Avril Lavigne, among others — has resulted in several of those songs experiencing hefty streaming bumps… with Justin, JC, Joey, Lance and Chris leading the way.

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The beginning of Deadpool & Wolverine features Deadpool performing *NSYNC’s classic “Bye Bye Bye” choreography while the No Strings Attached single soundtracks an opening-credits action scene, a sequence that has already been deconstructed and meme’d across TikTok ad nauseum. As a result, “Bye Bye Bye” is booming on streaming platforms — the track sits at a new high of No. 32 on today’s Spotify daily top 50 U.S. chart, ahead of more recent smashes like Eminem’s “Houdini” and Taylor Swift & Post Malone’s “Fortnight” — and scored 3.35 million official on-demand U.S. streams from July 26-29, according to Luminate, up 382% from that streaming total during the same period the previous week (695,000 from July 19-22). “Bye Bye Bye” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000, and while the boy band classic probably won’t climb that high again, *NSYNC could actually threaten a return to the Hot 100 if these streaming numbers continue to grow in the coming days and weeks.

While “Bye Bye Bye” may be getting the biggest boost from Deadpool & Wolverine, just about every song on the soundtrack – from Eric Carmen’s ‘80s pop gem “Make Me Lose Control” to the Platters’ doo-wop standard “Only You” – sees major gains this week. In particular, a pair of late-20th-century pop perennials see major gains after being featured in the blockbuster: Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” was up 229% in streams from the weekend prior to the film opening (506,000 streams from July 19-22) to its opening weekend (1.66 million streams from July 26-29), while over that same tracking period, Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” was up 88% in streams, from 708,000 streams to 1.33 million streams. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

New Songs by Country Hitmakers Swept Up by Twisters Soundtrack

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Before Deadpool and Wolverine stormed the box office, the biggest story in the film world this July was the breakaway success of Twisters, spiritual sequel to the 1996 tornado-chasers action-drama blockbuster Twister. While the soundtrack to the Oklahoma-set original film featured a mix of alternative and stadium rock, with just a smattering of country, the new installment – also taking place in the Sooner State – leans all the way in on the latter genre, with a 29-track accompanying album featuring big names from all corners of the country world.

While many of the tracks had been rolled out prior to the official release of the movie and its soundtrack two Fridays ago (July 19), all of those previously available songs saw huge bumps in the tracking week that followed. Miranda Lambert’s “Ain’t in Kansas Anymore” was up 112% in official on-demand audio streams (to 2.3 million) and up 268% in sales (to 1,700) from the prior week, according to Luminate, while Lainey Wilson’s “Out of Oklahoma” grew 182% in streams (2.9 million) and 750% in sales (3,100). And Luke Combs’ “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma,” already an established top 40 hit, jumps to a new peak on the Hot 100 this week (32-13), thanks to gains of 75% gain in streams (15.2 million) and 178% in sales (7,400). 

All the streaming success helped Twisters: The Album score an impressive No. 7 debut on the Billboard 200 albums chart this week – making it the first soundtrack album to reach the chart’s top 10 since last summer’s Barbie: The Album, and the first country soundtrack to do so since Country Strong in 2011. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Olympics Opening Ceremony: Gojira, Céline Dion Streaming Catalogs Go for the Gold

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The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics — the first commencement extravaganza held outside of a stadium in modern Olympics history, as athletes from around the world paraded by boat along the Seine in Paris on Friday night (July 26) — also included some unexpected musical showcases, from Lady Gaga’s take on “Mon truc en plumes” to Drag Race France stars dominating a fashion runway. 

Two of those performances, at very opposite ends of the musical spectrum, were still making waves on streaming platforms in the U.S. days after the opening ceremony: French head-bangers Gojira, which became the first metal act to perform at an Olympics ceremony, and pop legend Céline Dion, in her first performance since 2022 due to her struggle with stiff person syndrome.

Gojira’s surprising spot on the world stage naturally led viewers to peruse the long-running group’s back catalog: the band’s discography earned 3.12 million U.S. on-demand streams from July 26-29, according to Luminate, which represented a whopping 283% increase from the same four-day period the previous week (814,000 streams from July 19-22). And while Dion’s streaming catalog was starting at a much higher level of listens prior to the Olympics, her emotional return to the stage also sparked a major increase in plays, from 4.13 million streams from July 19-22 to 5.91 million streams from July 26-29 — a 43% gain. – JL

Virality of Royel Otis Cover (And Cranberries Original) Continues to “Linger” Thanks to… Uh, Well Just Read On

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Australian pop-rock duo Royel Otis is rapidly becoming the internet’s favorite covers band. After their rendition of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Saltburn-revived U.K. pop hit “Murder on the Dancefloor” brought them a surprise top five hit on the Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, they caught fire this summer with a new take on the Cranberries’ enduring mid-’90s crossover smash “Linger.” While the cover version had been racking up millions of U.S. streams every week for months already, the song is spiking again the past week, for some extremely 2024 reasons. 

Your 14-year-old cousin could probably do a better job explaining the ins and outs of the cover’s recent virality than us, but we’ll give it a shot: Recently, popular Twitch streamer Sketch (real name: Kylie Cox) did a livestream that he called “Sketch of the Union,” meant to address rumors that had surfaced about him having previously appeared in gay porn films that had been shared on adult subscription service OnlyFans. During a particularly memorable part of the stream, Sketch gave credit to some of the folks who had stood by him during backlash he’d received stemming from the rumors (“Shout out Banks, shout out my parents…”), with his voice breaking from the emotion.   

Clips of this climactic moment of the livestream ultimately made their way from Twitch to TikTok, with user @DennysJob laying the Royel Otis “Linger” underneath video of Sketch’s shoutout section, for a clip that has amassed nearly seven million views. The combined audio of the song and the speech ended up going viral in its own right, with other users lip synching to the shoutouts, and many more flocking to the song’s YouTube comments section to post variations of “shout out Banks” (with Banks referring to FaZe Clan CEO Richard Bengston, better known as FaZe Banks). As a result, the Royel Otis “Linger” posted over 3 million official on-demand U.S. streams over the first four days of this tracking week (July 26-29), a gain of 135% over the same period the week before, according to Luminate.

But that’s not all, of course. The Cranberries’ original “Linger” – which has already seen some major TikTok success this year, even reaching No. 13 on the Billboard TikTik Top 50 back in February – also had been racking up weekly streams in the millions this summer, and is now also seeing a spillover bump from the Royel Otis version’s increased exposure. The ‘90s “Linger” notched nearly 2.6 million streams from July 26-29, a 25% gain over the same period the week before. If the gains continue, the two versions could be duking it out for position on various rock-based Billboard charts in the weeks to come. – AU 

Indian Rapper Hanumankind Makes Global Splash With Project Pat-Inspired “Big Dawgs” 

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Thanks to an eye-popping daredevil music video and Project Pat’s timeless, irresistible flow, Kerala-born rapper Hanumankind has scored his first global hit with “Big Dawgs.”   During the week of July 12-18, “Big Dawgs” earned just over 40,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. That number exploded by an unbelievable 3,055% to over 1.27 million streams during the week of July 19-25, according to Luminate. 

Hanumankind, who is signed to Def Jam India, dropped “Big Dawgs” on July 9, with its official music video arriving the following day (July 10). The music video is inspired by the Well of Death, an attraction where people essentially drive motorbikes or cars around the walls of a silo at a near-90-degree angle. Naturally, such a visually arresting video made major waves, with several major streamers and Internet personalities sharing the clip with their Stateside followings. 

On July 24, hip-hop commentator DJ Akademiks shared the music video to his official Instagram page, which boasts 5.3 million followers. On July 25, TikTok personality @itsyujen shared a reaction to the music video, which garnered a whopping 6.4 million views. Over the next four days (July 26-29), “Big Dawgs” posted an 824% increase in streaming activity versus the same period the week prior, with over 3.8 million streams.

The song, which also features Kalmi, has taken over hip-hop discourse in the States, with many lauding Humankind’s nod to Project Pat and his commitment to the art of the music video. On TikTok, the official “Big Dawgs” sound boasts over 25,300 videos and the official music video has earned over 6.1 million views on YouTube. 

In an interview with The Hindu, Hanumankind revealed that both Project Pat and Bun B have privately given him his flowers. “These are my idols, my heroes. They hit me up,” he said. “They’re messaging me, telling me that they appreciate what we’re doing over here.” – KYLE DENIS

Kapo Scores Breakout Hit With “Ohnana” 

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Five years after he debuted with the sultry “Humo,” rising Latin music star Kapo has secured an undeniable breakout hit in “Ohnana. 

According to Luminate, “Ohnana” has posted a 125% increase in streams over the past four weeks, with the song pulling in over one million official on-demand U.S. streams in each of those weeks. Released June 6, the song ended that month with just under 700,000 streams during the period of June 21-27. On June 27, TikToker user @kendryoficiall posted a self-choreographed dance video that kicked off a larger trend on the app. To date, Kendry’s initial video – which featured several dancehall-informed moves – has garnered 4.1 million views, leading the official “Ohnana” sound to over 230,500 posts on the app. 

On July 17, Grammy-nominated global superstar Maluma teased an upcoming remix of “Ohnana,” which garnered over 9.3 million views on his official Instagram alone. While the remix is still yet to be released, the tease helped “Ohana” earn one of its biggest week-over-week increases, jumping 35% in streaming activity from 1.7 million streams (July 12-18) to 2.3 million streams (July 19-25). 

In addition to its TikTok virality, “Ohnana” has soundtracked nearly 150,000 Instagram Reels and its official music video has pulled in nearly 31 million views in just one month. Already a massive hit in his hometown of Colombia – the song reached a new peak of No. 3 on the Colombia Songs chart dated Aug. 3 — “Ohnana” also helped Kapo make his first appearance on the Billboard Global 200 (No. 112, chart dated Aug. 3). With the Maluma remix still on the way, Kapo could be making hisHot 100 debut next. – 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. 

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

This week: The nation-shaking news of President Joe Biden stepping down from the upcoming presidential race, presumably to be replaced on the Democratic ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris, has already led to a number of sizeable bumps for Harris-connected pop songs, while Tenacious D gets a bump from recent interest that they’d likely be happier without.

Kamala IS Brat — But Harris’ Ascent is Boosting More Artists Than Just Charli XCX

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When President Joe Biden announced on Sunday (July 21) that he was ending his 2024 re-election campaign and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, the biggest news of the week in U.S. politics was seismic enough to naturally spread into the world of popular culture. Plenty of music stars quickly reacted to the announcement, and a handful have already endorsed Harris as their 2024 candidate — but a few music tie-ins are already reverberating on streaming platforms in the opening days of her candidacy.

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There is, of course, the role that Harris’ coronation plays in our ongoing Brat Summer. On Sunday night, Charli XCX posted on Twitter, “Kamala IS Brat,” and the Harris campaign responded in kind, swapping in the Brat lime green color and font on its official account; meanwhile, CNN aired a segment dissecting what exactly being “brat” signifies, in relationship to the British pop star’s hit new album. Thanks in part to the campaign’s co-sign, Brat is up 14% in official on-demand U.S. streams from last Monday and Tuesday (10.3 million streams over July 15-16, according to Luminate) to the same period this week (11.8 million streams over July 22-23).

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign used Chappell Roan’s opening track on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, “Femininonenon,” in a TikTok video that criticized President Trump on Monday, boosting streams of the song by 19% from last Monday and Tuesday (1.22 million streams over July 15-16) to this Monday and Tuesday (1.46 million over July 22-23). And while both the Charli XCX and Chappell Roan albums are relatively recent projects still earning robust streams, the Harris campaign also revived “Freedom,” Beyoncé’s collaboration with Kendrick Lamar from her 2016 album Lemonade, which she has adopted as her official campaign theme (which Queen Bey’s approval), with it soundtracking her first campaign HQ entrance on Monday and her first campaign ad on Tuesday. Consequently, streams of “Freedom” leapt from 37,000 over July 15-16 to 232,000 over July 22-23 — a whopping 519% spike. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Tenacious D Up in Streams After Member’s Trump Assassination Comments Leads to Band Going on Hiatus

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This hasn’t been the best month for the Jack Black-fronted comedy-rockers Tenacious D, who found themselves in the eye of a controversy storm following an onstage comment made by co-founder Kyle Gass at the band’s July 14 gig in Sydney, Australia. During a birthday celebration in which he was presented with a birthday cake, Black asked Gass to make a birthday wish, to which he responded, “Don’t miss Trump next time.” The remark was, of course, in reference to the assassination attempt the night before on former president Donald Trump — and ultimately made for global news, as word of the comment spread over social media and ultimately drew heavy criticism.

In response to the backlash, Gass issued an apology (which has since been deleted) for his “severe lack of judgment” in his remarks about what he now deemed a “tragedy.” Shortly after, Black released his own statement, saying that he was “blindsided” by his bandmate’s remarks, and that he’d decided to cancel the rest of his and Gass’ 2024 tour and put the band on indefinite hiatus.

Perhaps the lone bit of good news for Tenacious D in all of this is that all the controversy has lead to a modest spike of streaming interest in the band’s music. Over the period of July 16-17 — the two days after news of Gass’ comment, the subsequent backlash and the band’s response to it really started to go viral — the band attracted 609,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate, a gain of 14% over the 533,000 streams the band racked up the previous Tuesday-Wednesday. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Sevdaliza’s Culture-Bridging Global Smash Makes Some Stateside Headway 

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What do you get when you combine a Dutch-Iranian artist (Sevadaliza), a Brazilian singer (Pabllo Vittar) and a French singer-songwriter (Yseult)? A global hit, of course.

“Alibi,” an infectious multilingual bop, has taken over the world thanks to its hypnotic melody and sample of colombian singer Totó la Momposina’s “Rosa” — which boasts a history that dates back to 1918. 

According to Luminate, “Alibi” earned just under 1.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of June 28-July 4. The following seven-day period (July 5-11), those figures increased by 35% to 2.15 million streams. By the period of July 12-18, once the waist-isolating TikTok dance trend truly started to take off, streams for “Alibi” exploded by a further 121% to 4.7 million streams. In just two weeks, “Albi” was able to increase its streaming activity by a whopping 200%. 

Officially released on June 28, “Alibi” arrived as an immediate viral sensation thanks to its months-long TikTok notoriety. Sevdaliza’s May 6 TikTok teasing the track currently boasts a stunning 18.5 million views, with the official “Alibi” sound playing in over 2.4 million unique posts on the app. A simple belly dance-inspired trend focusing on hip-rolling and waist-wining (depending on your skill level) is by far the most dominant “Alibi” trend on the app, while clips of people gawking at the muscle control or lamenting that they could never dance in that way making up a significant portion of posts as well. “Alibi” received another wind of virality after users started to share their opinions of a viral quinceañera video – which contained dance moves some thought were inappropriate for a 15-year-old to perform in front of family – as the song played in the background. On YouTube, the song’s official music video has amassed over 35 million views in just three weeks. The baile funk and Latin pop banger also soundtracks over 660,000 Reels on Instagram. 

Already a Billboard hit – the song has reached No. 3 on World Digital Song Sales, No. 19 on the Global 200 and No. 8 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 — “Alibi” could be gearing up for a Hot 100 appearance, should its streams continue to rise. – KYLE DENIS