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 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.

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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. 

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

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

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: Only in 2024 could we use the phrase “post-assassination-attempt streaming bump” for a pair of hits — one new and one old — while the most recent albums from Megan Thee Stallion and Charli XCX both spin off new viral jams, and more.

Many Streams and Sales for 50 Cent Classic, New Tom McDonald Single Following Assassination Attempt on Former President Donald Trump

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On Saturday night (July 13), the world was rocked by news of an assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump during a campaign rally near Butler, PA. As folks tried to make sense of what had happened, they inevitably turned to contemporary culture’s most reliable source of comfort in helping to process world events: memes. One of the most common such templates compared Trump to the rapper 50 Cent, who famously rose to fame following an attack that left him shot nine times. 50 himself got in on the game, posting a photo of his iconic Get Rich or Die Tryin’ album cover with a photo of Trump’s head crudely pasted over his own, along with the shrugging caption, “Trump gets shot and now I’m trending.”

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It wasn’t just his image that was trending, though: Listeners also flocked to 50’s Get Rich staple “Many Men (Wish Death),” the most frequent soundtrack for TikTok videos related to the assassination attempt, due to 50’s history and its “Many men/ Wish death ‘pon me” chorus. (Naturally, 50 himself also shared and responded to one or two over social media – and promoted his own “Many Men” T-shirts.) The result of it all was a massive surge in streams and sales for the song, as it collected over 2.2 million U.S. on-demand audio streams from July 13-15 – up 250% from the previous Saturday-to-Monday period – while also rising from a negligible amount of sales to over 2,000, according to Luminate. 

50 wasn’t the only artist to capitalize on the event and its public reaction: Conservative rapper Tom MacDonald, who has been a regular presence on the Billboard charts over the past few years for his right-leaning, anti-woke anthems, also seized the moment with the July 14 release of new single “You Missed.” The song begins with the lyrics “They burning the country down with they progressiveness/ It started with changing what gender is” and goes on to blame the “evil” woke left for the assassination attempt, ultimately taunting: “B–ch, you missed/ Thank god the left can’t aim!” 

Predictably, the song has resonated with its intended audience: “You Missed” racked up 423,000 on-demand audio streams over its first two days of release, as well as nearly 10,000 in digital song sales. If those numbers – particularly the latter one – keep up through the rest of the week, “You Missed” will likely hit on next week’s Billboard Hot 100 (dated July 27). – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Charli XCX’s ‘Apple’ Makes for Delicious TikTok Fodder

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As Brat Summer continues, Charli XCX’s hit album has enjoyed plenty of viral moments — although “Apple,” the standout synth workout in the LP’s back half, has established itself as a fan favorite. As explained in the new Billboard cover story on Charli, “Apple” almost didn’t make the final cut of Brat — but now, the song has launched a multi-step dance routine on TikTok, which Charli performed herself alongside pals Troye Sivan and Terrence O’Connor.

Now, “Apple” is earning considerably more streams than it was a few weeks ago: during the week ending July 11, the track scored 2.71 million official on-demand U.S. streams, up 50 percent from its total two weeks prior (1.81 million), according to Luminate. In lieu of an official music video, Charli has been sharing fan performances of the “Apple” dance on social media, writing yesterday of the song, “It’s her world and we’re just living in it!” – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Megan Thee Stallion Eyes Bilingual Smash With Yuki Chiba Collab “Mamushi” 

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After topping the Billboard Hot 100 and eviscerating the rap game earlier this year with her blazing diss track “Hiss,” Megan Thee Stallion now has her eyes on another potential hit from her recently released Megan album. 

According to Luminate, “Mamushi” — which features Japanese rapper Yuki Chiba (KOHH) — earned 10.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of July 5-11. That’s a whopping 39.5% increase from the 7.33 million streams the Koshy-produced track pulled during the week prior (June 28-July 4), following the album’s debut. And it’s still going up: Over the past weekend (July 12-14), “Mamushi” posted an 18.3% increase to 4.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams from the 4.05 million streams it earned during the previous weekend (July 5-7). 

The somewhat unlikely hit has been significantly boosted by a viral TikTok dance craze, which has already seen participation from actress Tia Mowry, WNBA powerhouse A’ja Wilson and Thee Stallion herself. Dancer and TikTok user @mona712_official originated the infectious dance combination on June 29 – just one day after the Megan album hit DSPs. In the time since then, her clip has garnered over 19.4 million views, which helped the official “Mamushi” sound own over half a million posts in just two and a half weeks. On Instagram, the smash collab soundtracks over 327,000 reels. “Mamushi” is also far and away the most viewed audio clip from Megan, with over nine million views. 

Already a Hot 100 hit – the track reached a new peak of No. 45 on the chart dated July 20 — “Mamushi” looks poised to continue climbing the chart.

Yaelokre Hops Into Viral Success With “Harpy Hare”

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The folk revival continues with new artist Yaelokre and her song “Harpy Hare” which hit No. 1 on the Spotify Viral 50 Global and US charts this week. Yaelokre is unlike anyone else out there: The artist combines her folk songs with her hand-drawn woodland illustrations on all her artwork and lyric videos. Plus, when she performs live or to her TikTok audience (580.2K followers and counting), she wears a handmade animal mask. It’s almost as if Gorillaz existed in the same stylistic universe as the drawings of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, if that makes any sense.

While the visuals are certainly eye-catching, it seems that the music is what is turning TikTok scrollers in the true fans for Yaelokre. “Happy Hare” rose 577% in official on-demand U.S. streams from the week of June 14-20 to July 5-11 – and from last week to the first half of this week (July 12-14), it jumped again by 186%. – KRISTIN ROBINSON

Season’s Gainings: It’s Coming Home? Maybe Next Time

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You know it’s football tournament season – the soccer kind, not the gridiron kind – when you start to see the whispers of “It’s coming home” spreading through social media, expressing optimism for England’s chances of finally claiming the Euro Cup championship. (Even American pop star Katy Perry got into the action on Sunday.) And with it, of course: a surge in consumption for Baddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seeds’ “Three Lions,” which was written as the team’s anthem when England hosted the 1996 Euro Cup, and has been revived for its Cup pursuit essentially every three years since – including last Sunday (July 14), where it spiked 714% from the prior Sunday to 72,000 official on-demand streams in the U.S. alone. Unfortunately, England fell to Spain in the Sunday championship finals – the country has still yet to win the tournament in its 66-year history – but hey, there’s always 2027. – AU

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.  This week: Eddie Vedder, Trent Reznor and more Gen X stalwarts get a valuable boost from a hit dramedy’s new season, Dominic Fike scores a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it viral hit, GloRilla gets one of the most valuable cosigns imaginable and much more.

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See latest videos, charts and news

‘The Bear’ Roars Back With Bumps for Eddie Vedder, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead & More

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For those who have spent the last year fretting over whether or not Carmy ever got out of that damn freezer, good news: The Bear has finally returned for its third season. The much-anticipated new 10-episode drop from one of TV’s most acclaimed dramedies arrived last Wednesday night (June 26) – and according to its home streaming service Hulu, it’s scored the show’s best opening viewership yet, with 5.4 million views over its first four days of release. And as in the first two seasons, the show comes replete with a variety of memorable needle drops, which have led to big streaming gains this week – particularly for a number of esteemed ‘90s alt-rock veterans. 

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Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder is leading the way with the biggest Bear tune, albeit for a brand-new song. “Save It for Later,” his solo cover of the English Beat’s 1982 new wave staple, debuted along with the new season on Wednesday, and saw its official on-demand US streams nearly double from Thursday to Friday (39,000 to 73,000, according to Luminate) – as more people caught up with the season, in which it appears multiple times (though most prominently at the outset of episode two, “Next”). It totaled a combined 234,000 streams from Thursday to Sunday, while the Beat original (also featured in the Bear season) saw a notable bump as well, up 37% in streams over Friday to Sunday (116,000 total) from the same period the week before. (The English Beat version is also No. 1 on Billboard’s LyricFind U.S. chart after the release of Vedder’s cover – up 3,668% in lyric searches since the premiere.)

Nine Inch Nails also had several songs featured throughout the season, and the most notable – the instrumental “Together,” featured prominently in the season premiere “Tomorrow” – was up a staggering 1,477% in streams over that Friday to Sunday period, rising to 35,000 from just over 2,000 in the previous week’s equivalent period. Similar gains were seen over the same timeframe for featured songs by Radiohead (“(Nice Dream),” up 42% to 58,000) and Refused (recurring Bear staple “New Noise,” up 31% to 46,000). And it wasn’t just the ‘90s greats: Big Thief frontwoman Adrianne Lenker represented for the younger generation with a bump for her “No Machine,” which rose 73% to to 33,000. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Dominic Fike’s ‘Misses’ Hits on TikTok & Streaming

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“14 minutes of music that almost didn’t see the light of day”: that’s how Dominic Fike described 14 Minutes, a new EP that quickly followed last year’s Sunburn album, upon its May release. With a track list of eight self-produced songs that clock in between one and three minutes in length, 14 Minutes was unveiled as an odds-and-ends project for fans — but then one of its shortest tracks, the 74-second “Misses,” started to go viral, and is now logging seven-figure weekly streams.

While the jaunty soul-rock track has been used in TikTok posts by Kylie Jenner and The Kid LAROI in recent weeks, Fike has incorporated the song into his sets at festivals like Bonnaroo and Governors Ball. As a result, “Misses” spent all of June steadily growing on streaming services — earning 4.41 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the chart week ending June 27, according to Luminate, after earning 2.35 million streams during the week ending June 6, a nearly 88% spike in three weeks’ time. Fike earned his first Billboard Hot 100 entry as a lead artist last year with “Mona Lisa,” which peaked at No. 89; if “Misses” keeps growing, the track could become an unlikely follow-up hit. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Thank God It’s Rihanna: New GloRilla Single Blows Up After Pop Legend’s Viral Video

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It’s already been a hell of a 2024 for Memphis rapper GloRilla, who’s scored a pair of top 40 Hot 100 hits with “Yeah Glo!” and the Megan Thee Stallion teamup “Wanna Be.” Glo’s new single “TGIF” hasn’t quite joined them in that region yet – the weekend-celebrating anthem debuted at No. 46 on the Hot 100 last week. But it’s probably going to get there very shortly, after getting an instantly unforgettable co-sign from someone as familiar with the top of the chart as any artist this century: Rihanna. 

On June 28, Rih shared a video of herself rapping along and dropping it low to the song, all in the face of her significant other A$AP Rocky – who observed her performance with his hands on his hips like a disapproving schoolteacher, before commenting “I’m too old for this” at video’s end (as Rihanna cackled in response). The couple’s delightful clip, captioned “happy friday,” caused the song to immediately explode: “TGIF” racked up nearly 4.5 million official on-demand U.S. streams combined over the following Saturday and Sunday after notching just 2.4 million the previous weekend (according to Luminate), a 74% gain. Good to know that while we’re waiting for her impossibly long-anticipated R9 album, Rihanna is still bringing new smash hits to the people, one way or the other. – AU

Could the Celine Dion Documentary Help a Former ‘AGT’ Contestant Become a Star?

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Last month, I Am: Celine Dion, a documentary capturing the life and career of the titular pop superstar (as well as her ongoing battle with stiff-person syndrome) enjoyed a limited theatrical run, before debuting on Amazon Prime Video. Its June 25 streaming bow allowed millions of viewers to marvel at Dion’s personal and professional achievements — as well as get introduced to “Who I Am,” an uplifting piano ballad from singer-songwriter Wyn Starks, which is showcased as an inspiring anthem in the doc.

Starks, a Minneapolis native, originally released “Who I Am” in 2020 and performed the song while competing on America’s Got Talent in 2022, the song’s emotion moving judge Sofia Vergara to tears. Now signed to Curb Records, Starks has landed another high-profile platform for “Who I Am,” and it’s paying off: the song earned 101,000 official on-demand U.S. streams from June 28-30, according to Luminate, after earning just a fraction of that (14,000 streams) during the same three-day period the previous week. Starks released a new single, “Run,” earlier this year, but the success of the documentary may have the singer-songwriter and his team pivoting back to another round of promo for “Who I Am.” – JL

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: It’s all things The Pop Out, as Kendrick Lamar and his many Friends see considerable gains following their All-Star Juneteenth concert.

Run It Back: Could “Not Like Us” Recapture No. 1 After Kendrick’s Epic Showcase?

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The main event at The Forum in Los Angeles last Wednesday (June 19) was, of course, the first live performance from Kendrick Lamar since his unofficial (though rather decisive) victory over Drake in the biggest hip-hop feud of the decade so far. Kendrick’s 18-track set, which featured guest appearances from his Black Hippy crewmates and his longtime industry mentor Dr. Dre and was streamed nationally over Amazon Prime, seemed to capture the entire country’s attention on Juneteenth — and unsurprisingly, has led to major catalog gains for Kendrick Lamar. The rap superstar posted nearly 61 million combined official on-demand U.S. streams over the following three-day period (June 20-22), a gain of 31% over the three-day period prior to Juneteenth (June 16-18).

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Of course, the most consequential bump was for Kendrick Lamar’s knockout blow in the Drake bout, the Mustard-produced, Billboard Hot 100-topping Song of the Summer contender “Not Like Us.” The song’s performance was the most anticipated part of the entire evening, and its landing as the show’s final song certainly did not disappoint — particularly because Lamar ran back its opening verse twice, performed the entire song three times, and even let the instrumental play as the closing credits rolled on the telecast. It apparently still wasn’t enough for his fans, as the song collected nearly 21 million combined streams over the three days following the concert, a 62% bump from the prior three-day period. (It should be mentioned that streams collected by a song over a normal Thursday-to-Saturday period usually are a little higher than those from Monday to Wednesday, just based on national streaming patterns.)

Could the bump be enough to send “Not Like Us,” currently the No. 6 song on the Hot 100, back to No. 1 for a second week? It will almost certainly climb back into the top five next week, and could even challenge to pass this week’s champ, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” — which is slipping a little in streams so far this week. But No. 1 could still be out of its reach, given the radio airplay disadvantage it has against Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help,” which reigned for five weeks before being displaced by Carpenter and has remained steady in sales and streams. Still, Lamar has an extra weapon at his disposal: the much-anticipated official “Not Like Us” video, which he was seen filming over the weekend. If he unleashes that before the tracking week ends, the extra attention could be enough to put it over the top.

Black Hippy S–t: ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock & Ab-Soul Also Up in Streams

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One of the most triumphant stretches of The Pop Out came when Kendrick Lamar was joined on stage by his former Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul for a Black Hippy crew reunion — their first appearance together since Lamar officially departed the label after 2022’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Jay Rock joined first to perform his Lamar collaborations “Money Trees” and “Kings Dead” and his own “Win,” then Ab-Soul appeared to help Lamar on “6:16 in LA,” and finally ScHoolboy Q completed the set for “Collard Greens” and the Black Hippy remix of “That Part.” The trio then continued dancing onstage through Lamar’s performance of his own solo classic, “King Kunta.”

All three of the special guests were able to parlay their surprise appearances into major streaming gains in the days following the concert. Ab-Soul collected 291,000 total official on-demand U.S. streams over the three-day post-Juneteenth period (June 20-22), up 44% from the three days before the show (June 16-18), according to Luminate. Jay Rock was up 45% over the same period, to just over one million streams. And ScHoolboy Q saw a 31% bump, with over 4.3 million streams amassed. While the other big guest during Lamar’s set, West Coast godfather Dr. Dre, didn’t get as big a catalog percentage bump, his 1999 classic “Still D.R.E.” — which introduced his surprise appearance — was also up 19% over the same period, to over 1.2 million streams.

A Little Help From His Friends: Mustard, YG & More Openers See Gains of Their Own

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The Pop Out was a star-studded event before Kendrick ever even took the stage. Preceding him in the Forum spotlight was fellow L.A. legend Mustard — producer behind “Not Like Us,” as well as an innumerous number of West Coast classics over the past 15 years — who began by reminding the crowd of some of the eternal bangers he was responsible for (including Tyga’s “Rack City,” 2 Chainz’s “I’m Different” and Big Sean’s “I Don’t F–k With You.”) He then brought out a succession of local special guests, some of whom (like Dom Kennedy and Tyler, the Creator) performed songs he took no part in, and some of whom (namely set closers Roddy Ricch and YG) exclusively played songs he helmed.

Many of those artists saw big bumps from their appearances at the televised event over the three days following the event (June 20-22) from the three days prior (June 16-18), and many of the songs performed were particular beneficiaries. Tyler racked up gains for the two songs he performed, “Wusyaname” (up 48% to 657,000) and “Earfquake” (up 28% to 1.5 million), as did Dom Kennedy for his pair of picks, “When I Come Around” (up 142% to 102,000) and “My Type of Party” (up 127% to 69,000), according to Luminate. And YG, who finished off the Mustard set with a selection of classics, saw his entire catalog lift 35%, to nearly four million streams over the three-day period.

Mustard also saw a huge spike for the song that made for the emotional centerpiece of his set: “Perfect Ten,” his collab with the late Nipsey Hussle, whose presence still hung over the entire West Coast celebration. The song was up 127% to 123,000 streams over the three-day period.

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: Sabrina Carpenter’s latest single looks to take her breakout year to an even-higher level, while Franz Ferdinand get their biggest hit Top Gun‘d and a joke song becomes a real viral hit.

Sabrina Carpenter Readies Second Summer Smash With “Please Please Please” 

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Sabrina Carpenter season is in full effect. As “Espresso” continues to dominate, “Please Please Please,” the second single from Carpenter’s forthcoming Short n’ Sweet LP, has emerged as yet another smash for the pint-sized pop star. 

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According to Luminate, “Please” collected over 5.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams during each of its first four days of release, climbing to a new peak 7.77 million streams on June 10. In its first four days of release, the breezy country-inflected tune earned a whopping 25.6 million streams and sold just over 4,000 digital downloads. 

“Please” is obviously riding the continued success of “Espresso” — which is currently enjoying a seventh non-consecutive week in the Billboard Hot 100’s top ten – but the Jack Antonoff-produced track isn’t solely relying on those coffee-stained coattails. In addition, Carpenter’s stock is rising thanks to her key opening slots on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and her frequently viral “Nonsense” outros, “Please Please Please” benefits from a cinematic new music video starring her boyfriend, Oscar-nominated actor Barry Keoghan. The visual serves as a sequel to that of “Espresso,” with Bardia Zeinali directing the Bonnie and Clyde-esque clip, which has earned over 19 million views in under a week. 

Like “Espresso,” “Please” has also earned a viral moment thanks to its pitch-perfect songwriting, with the “Heartbreak is one thing, my ego’s another/ I beg you, don’t embarrass me, motherf–ker” lyric garnering ample traction across socials. Users have been using the lyric as a caption for pictures of film characters such as Zendaya’s Tashi Ducan (from 2024’s Challengers) and Rosamund Pike’s Amy Elliott Dunne (from 2014’s Gone Girl). On TikTok, the official “Please Please Please” sound boasts over 32,6000 posts, while an unofficial sound soundtracks a further 32,200 clips. The song also got an additional boost from its live debut on Saturday, during Carpenter’s buzzy set at New York’s Gov Ball festival.

During the weekend of June 7-10, Carpenter’s catalog (aside from “Please”) also pulled in an additional 38.5 million official on-demand U.S. streams, posting a 35% jump in streaming activity from the same period the week prior (May 31-June 3, 28.6 million streams). With her new LP due at the end of the summer (Aug. 23), the pop supremacy of Sabrina Carpenter seems to be just getting started. – KYLE DENIS

Be All That You Can Be…. With Franz Ferdinand?

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Franz Ferdinand’s 2004 alt-rock classic “Take Me Out” has long proven to have any number of practical uses — for car-ride singalongs, workout playlists, indie dance nights and countless other real-life applications. One context that the Scottish quintet likely never saw their signature hit landing in, though, is as the soundtrack to pro-U.S. military edit on TikTok, via the account phoenix.mw. The CapCut-produced clip delivers a rapid-fire montage of U.S. military operations, set to a sped-up version of the Franz song’s action-packed intro, and has been viewed over eight million times on the app, with 1.4 million likes. It’s also inspired a trend, set to the same sped-up Franz sound, of users claiming they’d never join the military, before encountering the original military edit and having their minds changed (or at least confused).

Deeper jingoistic implications aside, the edit and ensuing trend have had the positive impact of inspiring listeners to uncover (or rediscover) the still-brilliant 20-year-old indie staple. Through the first four days of this tracking week, Jun. 7-10 — as the trend really started to take off on TikTok — the song racked up nearly 1.6 official on-demand U.S. streams, a 35% gain from the equivalent period the week before, according to Luminate. The song’s daily streams are still rising, and may not be stopping anytime soon — at least if you go by the number of new comments on the song’s official YouTube page along the lines of “I liked the song so much that I just signed up for the military” or “I’m enlisting f–k it.” – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Girl on Couch Rides Offhand TikTok Quip Into Streaming Hit 

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On April 30, TikTok user @girl_on_couch (Megan Boni) stumbled into a massive meme when she improvised a novelty song with the lyrics, “I’m looking for a man in finance/ Trust fund, 6’5”/ Blue eyes.” That video has since garnered over 44.7 million views and earned a remix from David Guetta, who released his version of the song on June 7. 

Before that remix, however, Girl on Couch teamed up with EDM duo Billen Ted for “Man In Finance (G6 Trust Fund),” which earned just over 210,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in its first week of release (May 17-23), according to Luminate. Two weeks later (May 31-June 6), those numbers more than doubled to 490,000 streams, setting the stage for an even bigger boost with the arrival of the David Guetta remix. In its first weekend of release (June 7-10), Guetta’s remix of “Man In Finance” helped the song top 705,000 streams, a 168% increase from the weekend prior (May 31-June 3; 263,000 streams). 

While the Billen Ted’s official “Man In Finance” sound plays in just under 5,000 posts on TikTok, a live performance video from Guetta’s Brooklyn Mirage set has earned over 103,000 views on YouTube in just five days. The meme might be running out of gas, but now users have an actual song to listen to, as per the caption of Boni’s original TikTok. “Can someone make this into an actual song plz just for funzies,” she quipped. 

With a new label deal – a licensing agreement for this specific vocal – on her hands, Boni may not have much use for a “Man In Finance” after all. — K.D.