Trending Up
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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: All things Barbie, as the blockbuster film sends several of its soundtrack hits into the streaming stratosphere, while also boosting some 20th century classics it features (and one it doesn’t — at least not in its original form). Also, some less-predictable gains for decade-old non-hits by a pop icon and a dream-rock cult favorite.
It’s A “Barbie World,” We’re All Just Living In It
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The cinematic phenomenon of Barbenheimer has monopolized the cultural zeitgeist for the past few weeks/months/years now, resulting in eye-popping opening weekend box office numbers for both Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Not only did Gerwig’s acclaimed film earn a historic $155 million opening weekend and inspire tens of thousands of fans to dress up in their best Barbie and Ken-inspired outfits, the fantasy-comedy also showcased a soundtrack stacked with A-list star power, in addition to several other memorable music moments.
Helmed by Grammy and Oscar winner Mark Ronson, the Barbie soundtrack features a collection of today’s most prominent pop artists, including Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Lizzo. Three of the album’s pre-release singles — Lipa’s “Dance the Night,” Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice & AQUA’s “Barbie World,” and Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” — have seen sizable streaming gains before and after the movie’s July 21 release.
“Dance the Night,” the lead single from the Barbie soundtrack, earned just over 960,000 official on-demand U.S. streams on July 17, the Monday preceding Barbie’s theatrical release, according to Luminate. The following Monday (July 23), Dua Lipa’s nu-disco banger earned 1.82 million streams, a 90.1% increase. “Barbie World,” the second collaboration between New York rappers Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice, earned 1.58 million official on-demand U.S. streams on July 17. By July 23, that number rose by a whopping 94.3% to 3.07 million streams. As for “What Was I Made For,” the gut-wrenching ballad pulled 1.47 million official on-demand U.S. streams on July 17. On July 24, Billie’s latest Oscar contender earned 2.45 million streams, a 66.3% increase.
Outside of the soundtrack’s major singles, a slew of other songs also experienced post-release streaming gains. Charli XCX’s “Speed Drive,” another pre-release single, earned 177,000 official on-demand U.S. streams on July 17, a tally that grew by 379% by July 24 for a total of 852,000. Indigo Girls’ 1989 alt-folk perennial “Closer to Fine,” which appears three times in the film, pulled 32,000 official on-demand U.S. streams on July 17. By July 24, the duo’s biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit collected just under 100,000 streams, marking a 203.5% increase. Matchbox Twenty’s 1997 pop/rock smash “Push,” which earned the band their first Grammy nomination, also has a prominent placement in Barbie. On July 17, the song earned 235,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, and by July 24, the track experienced a 43.3% increase to 337,000. There’s also Lizzo’s “Pink,” — another song that plays in the film — a funky pop track that had a strong streaming debut on July 21 (566,000 streams) and rose another 7% by July 24 (606,000).
Of course, there is no discussing Barbie without mentioning AQUA’s “Barbie Girl.” The seminal pop song, which is sampled on Minaj & Ice’s “Barbie World,” received 307,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. On July 24, the unofficial Barbie anthem earned 619,000 streams, a 101.7% increase. But, what about Ken? Ryan Gosling’s hilarious “I’m Just Ken” pulled 812,000 official on-demand U.S. streams on July 24, a 103.2% increase from the 400,000 it collected on July 21. Barbiemania is clearly taking over both the box office and music streaming platforms. — KYLE DENIS
Superheaven’s on Fire
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Doylestown, PA grunge-gaze quartet Superheaven had been broken up for most of the past half-decade, before reuniting in 2023 for a tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their acclaimed 2013 Run for Cover debut album Jar. That album has proven to be the gift that keeps on giving for Superheaven, as highlight “Youngest Daughter” has gone viral, with 19,000 TikTok videos using the sound of its crunching guitars and dreamy vocals — the most popular of which places it as the soundtrack to a user’s first-row Oppenheimer-watching experience.
The song has taken off on streaming as it’s gradually become a social media sensation, with its streams growing steadily over the past seven weeks — from 231,000 on the chart tracking week ending June 1 to over 1.9 million the week ending July 20, a 743% gain, according to Luminate. The song even debuts at No. 22 this week on Billboard‘s Hot Rock Songs chart, and No. 4 on this week’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. If the song keeps up this pace, Superheaven might have pretty good reason not to let its upcoming run of Jar anniversary dates this October be the last time it lets fans through its pearly gates. — ANDREW UNTERBEGER
Bieber’s “Billie Jean” Moment Experiences Streaming Resurgence
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11 years ago, Justin Bieber tucked away a little song titled “Maria” at the very end of the deluxe edition of Believe, his Billboard 200-topping sophomore non-holiday studio album. Co-written and produced by Darkchild, “Maria” functioned as Bieber’s very own “Billie Jean”: Just as Michael Jackson retaliated against what he said were outlandish claims from delusional groupies, Bieber used “Maria” to respond to Mariah Yeater’s allegations that he fathered her child.
In typical TikTok fashion, the song has experienced a small resurgence on the app for reasons that have nothing do with the original controversy that birthed it. Bieber’s track has become the latest soundtrack for thirst traps on the social media app. While those make up a healthy chunk of the “Maria” videos — there are two unofficial “Maria” sounds with over 13,5000 TikToks each — there are also myriad clips explaining the song’s lore and reflecting on what it was like to be a Belieber ten years ago and live through the whole ordeal in real time. Between the tracking week ending July 6 and the week ending July 20, streams of “Maria” exploded from just over 73,000 to over 613,000 — a gain of 738.5%, according to Luminate. – KD
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: Jung Kook’s Latto-assisted new single looks on its way to being another BTS solo smash, a couple very different singer-songwriters go viral, Rylo Rodriguez takes the next step to hip-hop stardom and more.
Jung Kook & Latto’s ‘Seven’ Sprints Out to Seven-Figure Daily Streams
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After Jung Kook made a solo pop splash last year alongside Charlie Puth with “Left & Right,” which peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, early indications are that “Seven,” the BTS member’s new collaboration with Latto, will climb even higher. The rhythmic pop single got off to a scorching streaming start upon its release last Friday (July 14), with 5.11 million U.S. on-demand streams that day, according to Luminate.
That number dipped over the weekend, but was still comfortably clocking over 2.5 million daily streams through Monday, accruing 13.7 million total streams in its first four days of release. Meanwhile, “Seven” earned over 34,000 in digital sales on Friday, and added another 32,000 digital copies from Saturday to Monday – with more sales expected from the set’s CD single, which is currently listed as “sold out” on the official BTS webstore.
Produced by Watt and Cirkut, “Seven” sports a shuffling beat, surprisingly explicit hook (“You know night aftеr night / I’ll be f–kin’ you right / Seven days a week,” Jung Kook sings) and combination of pop and rap that could work well at top 40 radio (with the song’s clean edit, of course). We’ll know early next week just how high “Seven” can debut, but after his BTS group mate Jimin scored a solo No. 1 single earlier this year with “Like Crazy,” Jung Kook is probably just a few days away from having his highest-charting single as a lead artist. – JASON LISPHUTZ
Faye Webster Once Again the Definition of Indie Virality
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Faye Webster has gone viral once again. Last summer, Billboard reported that two versions of the singer-songwriter’s “Kingston” were trending among TikTok viewers, giving her a 92% gain in streams over about a seven week period, according to Luminate.
Now, “I Know You,” a previously little-known song from Webster’s back catalog, is spiking on TikTok. Released on her self-titled 2017 album, “I Know You” is being used to accompany a myriad of different types of videos, but it has been particularly popular for creators to share photos juxtaposing themselves as children versus now, while typing out the lyrics on screen: “I’ll quiet down if it’s what you want / I understand I’m not the only one / for you.”
“I Know You” began picking up on TikTok slowly starting in late Spring and reached a boiling point at the top of July. Since June 30th, the track has seen a 279.1% gain in streams – while on top of the “I Know You” gains, Webster’s new single “But Not Kiss” is also faring well on the app. All of this has led to the Secretly Group signee re-entering and No. 26 on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart. Plus, her Spotify monthly listeners are now outpacing other indie heavy-hitters like boygenius, Wet Leg and Remi Wolf. – KRISTIN ROBINSON
Laufey’s ‘From the Start’ Speeds Up Into an Unlikely Hit
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“From the Start,” the delicate, bossa nova-inspired new single from Laufey, is a modern take on a classic love triangle, as the Icelandic-Chinese jazz singer-songwriter waxes poetic about being in love with her best friend — who is, of course, in love with someone else. “Don’t you notice how/ I get quiet when there’s no one else around?/ Me and you and awkward silence,” she laments to open the song — and since the May release of “From The Start,” TikTok users have gradually picked up on Laufey’s yearning, with the song has starting to go viral.
The TikTok clips generally focus on those opening lines, and almost always use a sped-up version of “From the Start” — which Laufey herself has embraced, posting various clips of herself reacting to, and dancing along with, the new tempo of the track. Meanwhile, streams of the original “From the Start” are rapidly growing: the song earned 2.1 million U.S. on-demand streams in the week ending July 14, up 50% from the previous week’s total, and its daily streaming total this Monday (644,000) was up a whopping 146% from the previous Monday (261,000).
Laufey has spent plenty of time on jazz streaming playlists since her 2021 debut EP Typical of Me, but as of Wednesday, “From The Start” has brought her to Spotify’s Top 50 U.S. chart. In September, Laufey will perform a special showcase with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra — perhaps she’ll play “From The Start” in both its standard and sped-up versions, and be able to tout her first career Hot 100 hit by then. – JL
Rylo Rodriguez Rides Sophomore Album Success to Strong Streaming Gains
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Last month (June 30), Rylo Rodriguez, a protégé of hip-hop superstar Lil Baby, released Been One, his sophomore studio album. The set debuted at No. 10, earning Rylo his first top ten album on the Billboard 200, and remained in the chart’s top fifteen in its second week. The album’s impressive stability has been bolstered by the breakout streaming success of two of its tracks: social media phenomenon “Equal Dirt” and the NoCap-featuring “Thang for You.”“Equal Dirt” has quickly become a meme across social media with Rylo’s “B—h, who dis fah?” ad-lib soundtracking thousands of hilarious TikToks. On the social media app, the official “Equal Dirt” sound has collected nearly 60,000 videos in a little over two weeks. The most common use of the sound is to set the scene for a staged scenario in which one partner in a relationship is demanding clarity from their significant other regarding a found item, which sparks suspicions of infidelity. The line has even proven itself irresistible to Rylo’s peers — like Grammy-nominated rapper Latto, who recently tweeted the phrase. According to Luminate, “Equal Dirt” has earned 3.15 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of July 7-14, a nearly 40% increase from the period of June 30-July 6.“Thang for You,” one of Been One’s pre-release singles, has also posted sizable streaming gains. While the song has gained relatively less fervent traction on TikTok — its official sound only boasts a little over 16,000 videos — it is still earning some of the album’s strongest streaming tallies. During the period of July 7-14, “Thang for You” collected just over 6 million official on-demand U.S. streams, a 4% increase from the week prior. Rylo’s collaboration with NoCap pulled a 33% increase streams following the release of the full album. Much of the song’s success can be attributed to its somber sample of Snoh Aalegra’s “Do 4 Love,” her rendition of the late Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love.” – KYLE DENIS
Warren Zeiders Gets Into the Bloodstream of DSPs With “Pretty Little Poison”
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As Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, and Jelly Roll continue to flourish on both the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Hot 100, they are lifting an entire class of country stars with them. Warren Zeiders, a rising country star who has previously used TikTok snippets to secure single success, is already cementing himself as a standout of that rising class.Released back in March, “Pretty Little Poison” has been gaining traction for months now, but the song has recently become a trending sound for country-adjacent TikTokers to flaunt their significant others. The official “Pretty Little Poison” sound currently boasts over 41,000 videos on TikTok. Zeiders himself has two TikToks of him performing the song that have amassed over one million views each. Buoyed by the song’s relatable lyrics and Zeiders’ sultry online persona, both his profile and “Pretty Little Poison” have been on the rise. “Pretty Little Poison” collected 3.5 million official on-demand U.S. steams during the period of July 7-14, a 26% increase from the period of June 30-July 6. As Zeiders preps the release of his sophomore album of the same name, slated for an Aug. 18 release, “Pretty Little Poison” should continue its ascent on streaming. – KD
Wham! Documentary Makes Duo Big Again on Streaming
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The documentary Wham!, telling the story of the ‘80s U.K. chart-topping pop duo of the same name (largely via rare archive footage), debuted on July 5 on Netflix to mostly rave reviews. Fans seem to have responded to it as well, as consumption for the duo has increased greatly in the two weeks since its release: Their weekly U.S. on-demand audio streams rose from just over 4.6 million for the tracking week ending June 29 to nearly 6.6 million for the week ending July 14, according to Luminate (a 41% increase), while their digital sales have rocketed from around 1,100 to over 7,000 over that same timespan (a 537% boom). The doc has also boosted George Michael’s solo numbers, as his streams over that period have climbed from 3.4 million to 4.4 million (up 30%), while his sales hiking from 1,500 to 4,300 (up 187%). – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
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: Sexyy Red follows her breakout hit with two more viral singles, Taylor Swift’s new-old smash sends listeners to an even older warm-weather perennial and Myke Towers launches a mid-summer bid for global ubiquity.
Summer 2023 Is Sexyy Red Season
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Sexyy Red is officially one of the biggest breakout artists of summer 2023. The St. Louis rapper has been a social media fixture for years thanks to her vulgar raps and round-the-way personality, but she has now reached a new level of mainstream prominence and commercial success thanks to the virality of several tracks from her latest mixtape, Hood Hottest Princess.
Back in January, Sexyy Red released “Pound Town,” a delightfully ratchet ode to the crudest edges of the sexual experience, which eventually received an equally ratchet remix from rap icon Nicki Minaj, titled “Pound Town 2” in May – helping the song debut at No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100. Minaj’s remix also kickstarted a new phase of the song’s multi-platform appeal: According to Luminate, “Pound Town” collected 5.4 million official on-demand U.S. streams in the week ending July 6 – up 4% from the previous week – while on radio, “Pound Town” currently ranks at No. 14 on Rap Airplay and No. 21 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay for the charts dated July 15. After driving the culture for so many months — the love for her breakout song is so strong that Sexyy Red gave an impromptu performance of the track from her seat in the audience at the 2023 BET Awards — “Pound Town” now has legitimate commercial success to add to its accolades.
“Pound Town” functioned as the de facto lead single for Hood Hottest Princess. Released on June 9, the mixtape did not debut on the Billboard 200 until this week’s chart (dated July 15), entering at No. 193 — a testament to the consistent growth of the tape’s streams. Two songs from the 11-track tape have emerged as the follow-ups to “Pound Town:” “Skee Yee,” a burgeoning summer anthem that garnered love on TikTok pre-release, collected 2.5 million official on-demand U.S. streams in the week ending July 6, a 22% increase from the week prior. Aided by a trend in which users aggressively whip their hair as Sexyy Red yells out her “skee yee” ad-lib, the most popular “Skee Yee” sound has over 237,000 clips on TikTok. Recently, Grammy-nominated rap star Travis Scott invited Sexyy Red to perform the song (along with “Pound Town”) during his headlining set at Wireless Festival in London — further proof that the rapper’s TikTok virality is translating into streams and support.
Another song from her mixtape, “Looking for the H–s (Ain’t My Fault),” is currently going viral on TikTok. Users put their own voice over Sexyy Red’s as she raps, “You like my voice? It turn you on? / This ain’t nothin’, wait ’til you see it in a thong.” “H–s” earned 1.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams in the week ending July 6, a whopping 292% increase from the period prior. The official TikTok sound for the song soundtracks over 305,000 clips on the app.
All in all, from the period of June 30-July 6, Sexyy Red’s catalog has received 11.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams, a 24.5% increase from the week prior. Between her audacious one-liners and knack for natural hooks, Sexyy Red has become one of the defining artists of the summer, one outrageously obscene song at a time. – KYLE DENIS
A Summer Twice as Cruel: Taylor Swift’s Smash Boosts Bananarama Streams
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On this week’s Hot 100 chart, Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” completes its long-overdue climb into the top 10, as the former deep cut from her 2019 album Lover jumps from No. 13 to No. 7 after recently becoming promoted as an official single. “Summer” has benefited from prime placement in Swift’s Eras tour set list, renewed fan support on TikTok and social media as the summer heats up, and prime placement on playlists like Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits and top 40 radio blocks (it’s up to No. 20 on this week’s Radio Songs chart).
Benefiting, in turn, from Swift’s “Cruel Summer”: Bananarama’s classic hit of the same name. The British trio’s “Cruel Summer” became a new wave crossover hit upon its 1983 release, climbing as high as No. 9 on the U.S. Hot 100. And while Swift’s song becomes the highest-peaking “Cruel Summer” in Hot 100 history this week, Bananarama’s track is riding the “Summer” wave to increased plays, four decades after its release.
Weekly streams for Bananarama’s hit have increased for seven straight weeks: after earning 519,000 U.S. on-demand streams during the week ending May 25, according to Luminate, the original “Cruel Summer” is up to nearly 724,000 streams for the most recent tracking week (ending July 6), making for a 39% cumulative spike in weekly listens. Of course, streams for Swift’s “Cruel Summer” dwarf those numbers – the song enters the Streaming Songs top 10 with 14.4 million weekly streams for this week. But who knows? Maybe if there’s another hit “Cruel Summer” in the year 2063, Swift’s version will see an uptick then, too. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Myke Towers Turns TikTok Into ‘Lala’ Land
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Puerto Rican rapper-singer Myke Towers has been a fixture on Billboard’s Latin charts for most of the past half-decade, but he’s yet to score a major crossover onto the Billboard Hot 100. That may be coming soon with the sweet reggaetón jam “Lala,” which is the penultimate cut on his 23-track March album La Vida Es Una. The song has taken over TikTok in the past month with its addictive title hook, a super-sticky backing vocal that plays throughout most of the song.
The song has come to soundtrack both a dance challenge and a series of CapCut videos, with over 1.4 million videos being made to the official sound. Consequently, the song has absolutely exploded on streaming, jumping from 206,000 U.S. official on-demand audio streams for the chart week ending June 22 to over 2.6 million for the week ending July 6 – a gain of 1,172% over the two-week span, according to Luminate.
With the song’s upward trajectory continuing this week – debuting at No. 26 on this week’s Billboard Global 200, and even rising to No. 1 on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs Global chart – “Lala” may be on pace to announce itself as a very late song of the summer contender. – 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. This week: Olivia Rodrigo’s much-anticipated new single also spurs gains for her older songs (and for another singer-songwriter’s song on a similar subject), the second season of The Bear goes big with its classic alt soundtrack, TikTok produces a couple (near-literal) runaway hits and more.
Olivia Rodrigo’s Return Yields ‘Sour’ Bump – And Sweet Gains for Madison Beer
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All eyes will be at the top of the Hot 100 chart next week, as Olivia Rodrigo’s massive new single “Vampire” will presumably try to dethrone Morgan Wallen’s country-pop juggernaut “Last Night” for the No. 1 spot. “Vampire,” the lead single from Rodrigo’s upcoming sophomore album GUTS, zoomed to a fast start at streaming, with 8.43 million U.S. on-demand streams on its opening day last Friday (June 30), according to Luminate. The long-awaited single got off to such a hot start that it buoyed the rest of Rodrigo’s studio output – as well as the older single from another pop star.
Sour, Rodrigo’s 2021 debut full-length, benefited from the release of “Vampire” on streaming services: the album scored a 47% jump in daily streams last Friday to 4.66 million, then sustained its uptick over the weekend and hovering above 3.5 million daily streams. Meanwhile, the release of “Vampire” – an anthem about romantic betrayal, that has been rumored to be inspired by Rodrigo’s relationship with DJ/producer Zack Bia – coincided with streaming gains for “Selfish,” a 2020 song from Madison Beer, also believed to be about Bia.
“Selfish” scored an 18.7% gain in daily streams to 43,000 from June 26 (the Monday before “Vampire”) to July 3 (the Monday after) – and Beer, who released the single “Home to Another One” last month, even acknowledged the spike on social media. In response to a fan account pointing out the “Selfish” resurgence, Beer posted in a since-deleted tweet, “thank u miss olivia.” – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Listeners ‘Bear’ Down on New TV Season’s Rock Synchs
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The Bear has been one of the most acclaimed new TV shows of the decade, and now its second season – which debuted on Hulu in June – has made good on the promise of the first. Everything about the second season of the restaurant-set Chicago dramedy is bigger and more ambitious, and that includes the soundtrack, which features recurring themes, song callbacks to the first season, and artists as big as Trent Reznor, Eddie Vedder and even Taylor Swift making up the show’s musical universe.
Several of those songs, of course, have seen big gains since the season’s June 22 premiere. Vedder & Neil Finn’s cover of Hunters & Collectors’ “Throw Your Arms Around Me,” which soundtracks the closing montage to the season’s emotional eighth episode, was up from under 5,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the chart week ending June 22 to over 89,000 the week after – a gain of 1,806%, according to Luminate. Refused’s “New Noise,” used multiple times in the season as now it’s on pump-up music, rose 123% to nearly 147,000 streams over that same period.
The biggest gains, however, came for R.E.M.’s “Strange Currencies,” the shimmering mid-’90s ballad that serves as a sort of love theme for show protagonist Carmy and his now-grown childhood crush Claire. The song rose from 27,000 to nearly 283,000 streams over that period, a gain of 945% – showing that food isn’t the only thing The Bear is whetting appetites for this season. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Flyana Boss Sprints Towards Sizable Streaming Gains
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In just under two weeks, Flyana Boss has gone from a virtual unknown to an inescapable social media phenomenon. Aided by videos in which they sprint through crowds of unsuspecting onlookers while they lip-sync to their latest single “You Wish,” the half-Detroit half-Dallas hip-hop duo have sneakily infiltrated the zeitgeist across social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter.
According to Luminate, “You Wish” collected 1.3 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of June 16-22. The following week (June 23-29), that figure ballooned to 2.1 million streams, a 61.4% increase in streaming activity. As the duo’s profile continues to rise, expect these numbers to keep growing. During this year’s Essence Festival, Megan Thee Stallion invited them onstage to twerk alongside her during her headlining set. At the festival, Flyana Boss also performed at the Girls United kickback. The viral duo has seen a wave of recent industry support, including messages of affirmation from the likes of Missy Elliott, Keke Palmer, and Timbaland.
On TikTok, “You Wish” has already been used in over 73,000 videos, most of which are users imitating the sprint-and-rap template of Flyana Boss’ original clip. More importantly, perhaps, “You Wish” appears to be connecting with audiences outside of the viral trend. The lyrics “I’m made of sugar, spice, Kanekalon, and cinnamon,” have launched scores of debates around race, hair politics, and what happens when lyrics steeped in Black cultural experiences crossover to the mainstream. “You Wish” is just getting started, and Flyana Boss could potentially run all the way to a surprise summer hit with the fast-growing track. – KYLE DENIS
‘Titan’ Tragedy Results in ‘My Heart Will Go On’ Streams
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Last month, the implosion of the Titan submersible made global headlines, as an expedition to view the famed wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean caused an international search and rescue operation, and ultimately claimed the lives of the five passengers aboard. As the news unfolded over multiple days beginning on June 18, when the submersible first lost communication, streams of “My Heart Will Go On,” Céline Dion’s smash single that doubled as the theme song to James Cameron’s world-conquering 1997 film Titanic, saw an uptick, as social media users posted both memes and tributes in kind.
“Heart” rose 12.9% in weekly streams during the ending June 22 (the day that debris believed to be from the submersible was discovered), to 743,000 U.S. official on-demand streams, according to Luminate. The song topped 1 million streams the following week, spiking nearly 40 percent in streams for the week ending June 30. “Heart,” of course, became a Hot 100 chart-topper for Dion upon its release, and the Titanic soundtrack spent 16 straight weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart in 1998 on its way to becoming one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. – JL
DeJ Loaf Deep Cuts Are Running Through TikTok’s Mind
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Although DeJ Loaf last hit the Billboard Hot 100 in 2018 with “At the Club,” a duet with R&B star Jacquees that reached No. 86, the Detroit rapper could make a grand return to the chart if this deep cut continues to make steady gains. “Running Through My Mind,” a track from her 2020 No Saint EP, is the soundtrack to one of the latest viral TikTok trends. Users film themselves running while flashing an indiscernible picture on their phone as a sped-up version of DeJ Loaf’s voice croons the song’s hook, “You been running through my mind all day.” The idea is that the user is cheekily revealing the person who they have a crush on without confirming their specific identity.
The “Running Through My Mind” TikTok sound has been used in 128,000 videos and counting, and according to Luminate, “Running Through My Mind” has posted double-digit streaming gains for the past three weeks. During the tracking week ending June 8, the song collected 44,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, but as the TikTok trend continued to gain steam, that number rose to over 254,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the week ending June 29, a 470% hike. With “Running Through My Mind” continuing to grow, DeJ Loaf may be looking at her biggest unaccompanied solo song since “No Fear” reached the Hot 100 back in 2017. – KD
Season’s Gainings: It’s Definitely a Fourth of July Party
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Our country’s 247th birthday was celebrated nationwide on July 4, and despite the holiday falling on a Tuesday in the middle of the workweek, it doesn’t seem to have stopped folks from cranking the patriotic (and/or bitterly ironic) tunes to commemorate the occasion. Zac Brown Band’s cookout-ready “Chicken Fried” rose from 796,000 to 1.6 million daily official on-demand U.S. streams from July 3 to July 4, according to Luminate, while Bruce Springsteen’s not-what-your-drunk-uncle-thinks-it’s-about anthem “Born in the U.S.A.” rose 333% to 2.1 million streams, and the entire catalog of American greats Creedence Clearwater Revival was up 33% to 4.8 million streams. And of course, the Fourth of July crown went to Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.,” up 137% to nearly 2.3 million, our country’s unofficial second national anthem for yet another year. – 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: The Spider-Verse stretches its way across streaming, a tri-state indie rock band launches an unlikely dance challenge and an alt-folk singer-songwriter enjoys his first real crossover success.
Miles Morales Spurs a Spider-Verse Takeover
It’s been just over a week since the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Miles Morales and co. are already having a sizable musical impact that nicely complements the film’s box office success. Serving as the sequel to 2018’s Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the new film continues Miles’ journey, and boasts a star-studded soundtrack curated and produced by Billboard 200-topping hip-hop producer Metro Boomin.
According to Luminate, the genre-spanning soundtrack (released on Boominati/Republic) garnered 83.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of June 2-8. In the same period, two songs emerged as the set’s strongest and most consistent performers. “Calling” (which is credited to Metro Boomin, Swae Lee & NAV feat. A Boogie wit da Hoodie) collected 10.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams, while “Annihilate” (credited to Metro Boomin, Swae Lee, Lil Wayne & Offset) garnered 10.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams. Both songs have been hanging around the upper regions of Spotify and Apple Music’s daily charts off the strength of their placement in the film, the allure of the performing artists, and, of course, the music itself.
In a slight contrast to the success of these Spider-Verse posse cuts, Coi Leray’s solo Spider-Man track alongside Metro, “Self-Love,” has also emerged as one of the soundtrack’s biggest songs — and one that’s still growing. On June 2, the song earned over 920,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, and one week later (June 9), that tally increased by 35.8% to a total of 1.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams. Although that number dipped slightly to 1.16 million the following day, consistent love across social media looks to buoy the song as it continues its run.
Of course, in 2018, the previous Spider-Verse soundtrack (for Spider-Man: Inside the Spider-Verse) spawned “Sunflower,” the inescapable Post Malone and Swae Lee duet that recently became the highest-certified single in the United States. The RIAA certified the song 18x platinum in recognition of over 18 million units sold. Since the release of Across the Spider-Verse, the already-stable streaming numbers for “Sunflower” have experienced a significant increase: During the week of June 2-8, the Billboard Hot 100-topping track received 8.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams, a 29.6% increase from its May 26-June 1 tally (6.9 million).
On the Billboard 200 chart dated June 17, the Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack entered at No. 7, becoming Metro Boomin’s fourth consecutive top ten title. He previously topped the chart with 2018’s Not All Heroes Wear Capes, 2020’s Savage Mode II (with 21 Savage), and last year’s Heroes & Villains. – KYLE DENIS
Noah’s Arc: Kahan Climbs Toward Mainstream Stardom With “Dial Drunk” & Expanded Album
Over the past year, Noah Kahan’s brand of heartfelt folk-rock has amassed a sizable fan base thanks to both old-school road grinding and next-gen social media engagement. After the Vermont native teased “Stick Season,” a post-breakup song rife with COVID-era loneliness, to his fan base for months ahead of its July 2022 release, the song took off on TikTok as the singer-songwriter plowed through tour dates, eventually leading to a No. 14 debut for his Stick Season album on the Billboard 200 last October.
Kahan hasn’t slowed down since – a North American tour that began last month will continue through October – and a recently released deluxe edition of his Stick Season album, combined with an already-viral new single, may speed up his ascent to household-name status.
Last Friday (June 9), Kahan released Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever) via Mercury/Republic, which featured seven additional songs and sent his streams soaring. Kahan’s catalog rose over 300% in daily U.S. on-demand streams upon the release of the expanded album – from 3.11 million last Thursday to 12.83 million on Friday, according to Luminate – and hovered around 9 million daily streams through Monday, suggesting that far more than Kahan’s diehard supporters are playing his new tunes.
Those songs are highlighted by “Dial Drunk,” a banjo-led story of an intoxicated man reaching out to an estranged contact as his emergency call from jail. Like “Stick Season,” “Dial Drunk” had been teased on TikTok by Kahan for a prolonged period – but now that the singer-songwriter boasts a larger fan base than last summer, the new track may mark his Hot 100 debut next week. “Dial Drunk” bowed with 1.81 million streams on Friday, then garnered seven-figure plays each day through Monday, while remaining fixtures of the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA and Apple Music charts.
The success of “Dial Drunk,” along with Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever) potentially pushing into the top 10 of next week’s Billboard 200, would continue an already huge year for Kahan, who recently sold out New York’s Radio City Music Hall and led a substantial crowd at the Boston Calling festival. The crowds have exploded, and now may be the time for Kahan’s commercial breakthrough. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Indie Fans ‘Need 2’ Participate in “Pinegrove Shuffle”
The New Jersey indie-rockers of Pinegrove might not technically be the least-likely artist to ever benefit from a viral dance challenge, but they’re certainly much closer to the bottom than the top of that list. Nonetheless, that’s what’s been happening since last Friday, when a video from TikToker @garrettlee39 dancing to their 2014 Mixtape Two highlight “Need 2” — maybe more full-body thrusting than dancing, along with some arm-flailing — went viral over social media, leading to countless other users trying to recreate what’s since been dubbed the “Pinegrove Shuffle.”
Interest in the original song has now also shuffled over to streaming services. “Need 2” had already been swelling in official on-demand U.S. streams for the couple weeks prior — the self-released track was up from 220,000 for the chart week ending May 18 to 567,000 for the week ending June 8, according to Luminate — but those numbers have really spiked since the @garretlee39 video (which currently has 4.6 million views), raising from 99,000 daily streams on June 8 (the day before the video) to over 427,000 on June 11, a gain of 333%, according to Luminate.
If those numbers keep spiking, it might give the cult band the first true breakout hit of its decade-long career — just after it entered an informal hiatus period earlier this year, following the departure of drummer Zack Levine. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
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: Bonus cuts from Taylor Swift’s new Midnights reissue look to shake up the charts, a new Disney musical remake leads to big gains for its classic songs and another conservative anthem puts up big sales numbers.
Chart Supremacy’s a Relaxing Thought: Taylor Swift Eyes Major Moves With Til Dawn
How big will Midnights – The Til Dawn Edition be? Next week’s Billboard charts will reflect the full commercial response to Taylor Swift’s new edition of last year’s Midnights album, which was released last Friday (May 26) and included an Ice Spice-assisted remix of “Karma,” a “More Lana Del Rey” version of “Snow on the Beach” and the streaming debut of “Hits Different,” among other goodies for fans. Based on early streaming and sales figures, those tracks are predictably getting played by a huge audience, and could impact the Hot 100 chart in a major way if those numbers hold.
On the streaming side, “Karma” was the big winner on the Til Dawn release date, with the original version and the Ice Spice remix combining for 5.65 million U.S. official on-demand streams on Friday — a 395% uptick from the previous day, according to Luminate. “Karma” — which is up to No. 27 on the Hot 100 this week, in the chart frame prior to the release of the remix and its accompanying music video — dipped a bit over the holiday weekend, but was still raking in 2.34 million streams on Monday, which was more than double its daily average in the days leading up to the remix release. Combined with a big boost in downloads (7,400 in sales on Friday alone), “Karma” could be flexing like a gosh darn acrobat in the upper reaches of next week’s Hot 100.
Meanwhile, “Hits Different,” which was originally released on the Target-exclusive physical edition of Midnights in October, scored an even higher sales day on Friday than “Karma,” with 11,200 downloads to Swifties anxious to add the track to their digital collections. “Hits Different” also earned 3.27 million streams on Friday, with that daily number hovering a bit above 1 million streams each day over the holiday weekend. And “Snow on the Beach” kicked off the weekend with 3.76 million streams on Friday — a whopping 849% increase from the previous day — and 8,000 in sales, with its daily streams winding down to the same levels as “Hits Different” by Monday.
Although the numbers for “Hits Different” and “Snow on the Beach” are worth monitoring, all eyes are on “Karma,” which Swift performed with special guest Ice Spice at each of her MetLife Stadium shows in East Rutherford, N.J. this past weekend. In the coming weeks, “Karma” could become Swift’s second Hot 100 chart-topper from Midnights, following “Anti-Hero,” which became the superstar’s longest-running No. 1 single by logging eight weeks atop the chart. Meanwhile, Midnights could return to the top of the Billboard 200 chart, snapping the 12-week run at No. 1 of Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Little Mermaid Songs Swim to Big Gains
The new live-action Disney remake of the studio’s 1989 animated classic The Little Mermaid is off to a dynamite start at the U.S. box office, with nearly $120 million reportedly raked in over its first four days of release (May 26-29). Unsurprisingly, the movie’s early ubiquity has inspired people to return to some of the timeless songs remade in the new version on streaming services, both in their newer and original incarnations.
“Part of Your World,” the Little Mermaid ballad originally sung by voice actress Jodi Benson (which Billboard‘s staff recently named the best song in Disney history) and covered by star Halle Bailey in the 2023 version, rose 71% in daily on-demand official U.S. streams from 294,000 on May 25 (the day before its release) to 503,000 on May 27 (the day after), while the Benson original was up 18% to 210,000 over that same span, according to Luminate. Meanwhile, the Daveed Diggs-led “Under the Sea” from the new version was up 125% to 208,000, and Samuel E. Wright’s 1989 rendition gained 11% to 202,000.
Are any of the 2023 version’s new Lin-Manuel Miranda-penned songs on their way to a classic status of their own? Hard to tell so far, but “The Scuttlebutt” — led by the Awkwafina-voiced Scuttle, and also featuring Diggs — seems to be off to the strongest start, with the song climbing to over 200,000 daily on-demand U.S. audio streams this week, a number that may only continue to rise as more and more kids nationwide are re-infected with Mermaid-mania. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Neo-Con Rappers Put a “Target” on Store’s Pride Month Display With Homophobic and Transphobic New Best-Selling Single
The No. 1 song on iTunes’ real-time chart isn’t from Taylor Swift or The Little Mermaid — but rather conservative rappers Forgiato Blow and Jimmy Levy’s new single “Boycott Target,” also featuring Nick Nittoli and Stoney Dudebro. The reactionary song takes aim at the titular megastore for its recently debuted PRIDE Collection and takes open shots at the LQBTQ community with lyrics like “You know the LGBTQ done went too far/ You know they cuttin’ these kids, they leavin’ tr—ies with scars/ Why they push an agenda, promoting with sexual genders/ I’m only rockin’ with Bruce, don’t rock with no Caitlyn Jenner.” Meanwhile, the video features the artists parading around a Target’s PRIDE section, with several of them donning a cartoonish amount of pro-USA (and/or pro-Trump) clothing and paraphernalia, and singer Jimmy Levy positing, “Inside this store, Satan resides.”
As several other conservative anthems have done in recent years, from Aaron Lewis’ “Am I the Only One?” to multiple different songs named “Let’s Go Brandon,” the song has attracted thousands in sales due to word-of-mouth and exposure via FOX News. The song grew from just over 200 in daily sales on May 25 to nearly 2,900 on May 30, despite Blow’s claims to FOX that the song had been “shadow-banned” from searches on Apple Music, and daily streams have also started to pick up, though they still remain in the modest five digits. Regardless of whether or not the consumption will be enough for “Boycott Target” to match the top 40 debuts of those previously mentioned right-wing rallying cries, its success thus far strikes a sour note for the start of Pride month. — A.U.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.
This week: Beyoncé’s new tour (and new remix) gives her catalog a big boost, while Lana Del Rey becomes the latest artist to score with a new old-song, an American Idol winner shows early commercial promise, and much more.
A Streaming Renaissance: Beyoncé Scores Gains With New Tour & Remix
The launch of Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour — the superstar’s first headlining run in seven years — has understandably caused plenty of social media chatter about set list inclusions, outfit choices and choreography highlights as viewed through fan videos. Since kicking off on May 10 in Stockholm and continuing across the U.K. and Europe over the past two weeks, the tour has also resulted in a healthy uptick in streams for Queen Bey’s catalog.
Weekly U.S. on-demand streams for Beyoncé’s solo music totaled 52.1 million for the week ending May 11, a 9.2% increase from the prior week (47.7 million), according to Luminate. During the first full week of the Renaissance tour, that number jumped to 58.1 million streams for the week ending May 18 — and on the current Billboard 200 albums chart, last year’s Renaissance album benefited from those streams, jumping up 16 spots to No. 29. Considering that these millions of plays are exclusively coming from U.S. listeners, expect those streaming totals to stay healthy when the Renaissance tour touches down in North America on July 8.
To provide the BeyHive with even more excitement, Beyoncé unveiled a new remix of Renaissance highlight “America Has a Problem,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, last Friday night (May 19). We’ll see next week exactly how much the remix impacts her overall streaming total — and how high the song, which originally peaked at No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100, can climb in its new form — but early streaming returns are promising: “Problem” jumped from 564,000 daily streams on Friday to 1.77 million in its first full day of release on Saturday, a bump of 213%. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Fans “Say Yes” to New-Old Lana Del Rey Song
Lana Del Rey has one of the year’s most acclaimed albums thus far with Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, which hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. But one achievement she doesn’t have from that project is a Hot 100 hit – in fact, the last one of those the alt-pop star scored as a solo lead artist was four albums ago, with her No. 59-peaking cover of Sublime’s “Doin’ Time,” from 2019’s Norman F—king Rockwell.
That might change next week, thanks to the release of her new one-off “Say Yes to Heaven.” The song, which Del Rey wrote with frequent collaborator Rick Nowels in 2012, had become a fan favorite in the decade since as an unreleased leak, with sped-up versions of it also helping it go viral more recently on TikTok. Fan excitement over its official release helped it land nearly 1.9 million on-demand U.S. streams in its first full day of release last Friday (May 22), along with nearly 900 in digital song sales, according to Luminate.
Those numbers slipped a little the next couple days, but have still remained fairly strong, as the song is still hanging in the Spotify Daily Top Songs USA chart’s top 50 five days after its release. If they stay near that level, “Say Yes” will likely crack the Hot 100 last week – just the latest example of an artist’s newer work being no match for a newly celebrated older song of theirs on the Billboard charts in 2023. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Bad Bunny’s ‘Goes’ Gets Going With Strong Streaming Start
Does Bad Bunny have another summer hit on his hands? After ruling last year’s dog days thanks to the May release of his Un Verano Sin Ti album, he unveiled a club-ready single, “Where She Goes,” late last week, and initial streaming numbers suggest more ubiquity on the way for the record-setting star. The track earned 5.1 million U.S. on-demand streams on Friday (May 19) after hitting streaming services the previous day, and scored another 6.4 million combined streams over the course of the weekend. While “Where She Goes” may not be an immediate threat to top the Hot 100, Bad Bunny has yet to score a No. 1 single on the chart as a solo artist — and could very well try to check that feat off his professional list in the coming weeks. – JL
Will We Finally “Be Seeing” This Year’s Idol Winner on the Charts?
Two decades on from the show’s debut, the commercial impact of American Idol in 2023 is fairly muted compared to what it once was – with Nick Fradiani in 2015 being the last season winner to even notch a hit on the Hot 100. Time will tell if 18-year-old Iam Tongi, announced on Sunday (May 21) as Season 21’s winner, is going to be the one to break that trend. But based on the early returns, he’s off to a pretty good start.
“I’ll Be Seeing You,” dedicated to Tongi’s late father and released as his first single last Friday, got off to a decently impressive start – with official on-demand U.S. streams around 50,000 and sales around 1,500 in its first day of release, according to Luminate. But those numbers have gone way up following his emotional performance of the song on Sunday’s finale, with daily streams rising to over 100,000 and sales now over 3,000, as the song topped the daily U.S. iTunes chart.
And right below it on that chart? James Blunt’s “Monsters,” a 2019 single that also moved over 3,000 copies on Monday, with daily streams over 200,000, following a similarly powerful duet the two singers performed of the ballad on Sunday’s show (with country star Jelly Roll calling it “one of the most emotional things ever” in its YouTube comments). If Tongi can help get James Blunt back onto the Billboard charts, big things may indeed lie ahead for him. — AU
Q&A: Harvey Cohen, President of Vibee, on What’s Trending Up in His World
Why is now the right time for an immersive music trip organization like Vibee?
During the pandemic, travel and in-person experiences – including live music & entertainment – came to a halt. When the world opened back up, we witnessed a renewed appreciation for community, exploration, and real-life music experiences, especially at a more boutique level. As a result, Vibee recognized there was an incredible opportunity to build out-of-this-world trips for music fans that intersect passions for travel, connection, and exceptional live entertainment, while bringing fans closer than they’ve ever been to their favorite artists. And here we are.
Vibee has thus far offered both destination experiences, like “Lionel Richie’s Dancing on the Sand” in the Bahamas, and music festival integrations with fests, like Lollapalooza and ACL. How have these events been selected and curated to fit the Vibee brand?
At Vibee we make it a point to offer elevated experiences for all types of music fans. We find the right locations and produce events in conjunction with, and which align with the lifestyles of, our partner artists. For example, Tiësto’s “Chasing Sunsets” is taking place in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico this November where attendees can enjoy boat parties, tequila tastings, and watersport excursions in addition to multiple incredible performances by Tiësto and some of his favorite artists. The “Honky-Tonk Homecoming” weekend in Nashville will include performances from ‘90s country legends, a special songwriters brunch, tours of renowned venues like the Grand Ole Opry, and more. This will be an all-encompassing Nashville weekend, where we will bring fans back to that amazing era in country music with theme parties, honky tonk crawls, coupled with concerts by the likes of Trace Adkins, Jo Dee Messina, Lonestar, and Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry. These are just a couple examples of what we have in the works.
Can you describe Vibee’s partnership with Live Nation, and how you expect it to evolve in the near future?
Vibee was founded by Live Nation to tap into the desire from fans to have experiences more deeply rooted in a love of music and travel. Vibee focuses on three main verticals: curated experiences, festival integrations and Las Vegas residencies. Through our Live Nation partnership we’re able to work with the industry’s most respected festival producers including C3 Presents, Country Nation, Founders Entertainment, and other Live Nation festival properties. Vibee is also proud to have signed an exclusive global partnership with Insomniac, to bring premium hospitality experiences to their events around the world. These include the recent Hotel EDC takeover at Resorts World in Las Vegas, and the sold out inaugural EDSea cruise this fall. Fans can find more of what we’re working on at Vibee.com or by following us at @VibeePresents on social media. There are a lot of incredible things to come this year.
What’s one goal that you’d like to see Vibee — and, to some extent, the immersive sector of the live industry — achieve in the next few years?
We truly want to surpass fans’ expectations by creating the most memorable immersive music destination experiences, all over the world. We want people to find love and life-long friends at Vibee events. And in years to come when asked how they met, say, “We met while dancing to our favorite artist on an unbelievable trip that was curated by Vibee.” – J.L.
Season’s Gainings: Streamers Show Their Mother’s Day Appreciation
If you forgot to send your mom a card or give her a phone call two Sundays ago (May 14), it’s probably a little late now – but hopefully you were at least one of the many listeners who showed your gratitude by streaming some Mother’s Day classics on DSPs. 2Pac’s “Dear Mama,” likely also boosted recently by the Hulu doc series named after the 1995 classic about the rapper’s relationship with mother Afeni Shakur, was up 48% to over weekly 2.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams for the week ending May 18, while The Intruders’ Philly Soul perennial “I’ll Always Love My Mama” was up 335% to 154,000 streams, according to Luminate. Another more recent entry in the canon also benefitted: Meghan Trainor’s 2016 bonus cut “Mom,” which kicked off Spotify’s official Mother’s Day playlist and climbed 147% to 382,000 weekly streams. — 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: Kate Bush makes it two years in a row with big gains from a Netflix hit, while Loreen enjoys a Eurovision bump on both sides of the pond and a pair of hitmaking Asian girl groups make inroads on U.S. radio.
Happy Mother’s Day to Kate Bush
Is it happening again? If you’ve checked Shazam’s real-time U.S. chart in the past week, you’ll see a familiar older name jostling with Lil Durk and J. Cole’s new “All My Life” for the top position: Kate Bush, she of the biggest sync revitalization of the decade so far. It’s not “Running Up That Hill” or Stranger Things this time, though: It’s her similarly beloved (and oft-covered) “This Woman’s Work,” used to great effect towards the end of the new hit Netflix action drama, The Mother.
“Work” has been used prominently in movies and TV shows for 35 years now – dating back to its original 1988 release on the She’s Having a Baby soundtrack – and The Mother, starring Jennifer Lopez and released last Friday (May 12, two days before Mother’s Day), uses the signature ballad over its closing sequence and end credits. The synch’s impact could be seen in the song’s streaming numbers – up from 21,000 daily official on-demand U.S. streams on May 11 to 55,000 by May 14, a 157% gain – along with digital song sales increasing from under 100 to over 500 over that period, all according to Luminate.
Thus far, the song’s explosive growth is still modest compared to the runaway success of “Hill” post-Stranger Things — which made it not only the biggest newly viral catalog of hit of 2022, but one of the year’s biggest overall hits of any kind. If this one starts crossing over from Shazam to TikTok in the same way that song did, though, there might still be plenty of “Work” for the Bush staple to do on the Billboard charts. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Left, Right, Up: FIFTY FIFTY & XG Hits Make Inroads at U.S. Radio
As Asian pop acts have established an increased presence in U.S. popular music over the past five years, one sector of the industry has long proven the most difficult to impact on a consistent level: pop radio.
While BTS smashes like “Dynamite” and “Butter” stand as exceptions, top 40 stations have generally shied away from the latest offerings from Asian pop collectives, even as those groups rack up seven-figure streaming numbers and headline arenas in the States. BLACKPINK, for instance, has only notched one non-collaborative single on Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart to date (“Pink Venom,” which peaked at No. 32 last year), while groups like TWICE, Loona and (G)I-dle have only been able to achieve fleeting appearances on the tally.
Yet a pair of English-language singles from the relatively new collectives FIFTY FIFTY and XG are not only turning into profile-boosting breakthroughs for each – they’re receiving real, growing radio play as well.
For more info on this, check out our full article over at Billboard Pro.
“Tattoo” Looks to Ink Itself on the Charts
The winner at this month’s Eurovision song contest was the delectably dramatic Eurodance-pop banger “Tattoo” by Loreen, Sweden’s representative at this year’s competition. Loreen might already have been familiar to many watching as the singer behind 2012’s “Euphoria,” a single that topped charts throughout Europe and went to No. 3 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart – but “Tattoo” looks on track to do even better, currently ticketed for a top two debut on this week’s U.K. chart.
The song is also beginning to take off stateside. Though it’s been available on DSPs since February, the song has steadily risen on streaming since it triumphed in its first semifinal on May 9, and exploded following its ultimate victory on May 13. In all, the song has risen from 58,000 daily official on-demand streams on May 8 to over 226,000 on May 16 – a gain of 28%, according to Luminate. It’s a great start for the winner in the hopes of it following in the footsteps of recent U.S. Eurovision success stories like Måneskin and Duncan Laurence, though time will tell if “Tattoo” leaves more of a temporary or permanent mark on U.S. pop culture. – AU
As Asian pop acts have established a greatly increased presence in U.S. popular music over the past five years, one sector of the industry has long proven the most difficult to impact on a consistent level: pop radio.
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While BTS smashes like “Dynamite” and “Butter” stand as exceptions, top 40 stations have generally shied away from the latest offerings from Asian pop collectives, even as those groups rack up seven-figure streaming numbers and headline arenas in the States. BLACKPINK, for instance, has only notched one non-collaborative single on Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart to date (“Pink Venom,” which peaked at No. 32 last year), while groups like TWICE, Loona and (G)I-dle have only been able to achieve fleeting appearances on the tally.
Yet a pair of English-language singles from the relatively new collectives FIFTY FIFTY and XG are not only turning into profile-boosting breakthroughs for each – they’re receiving real, growing radio play as well.
The K-pop quartet FIFTY FIFTY has seen its dreamy bubblegum track “Cupid” and its accompanying English-language version “Cupid – Twin Version” explode over the course of the spring. As “Cupid” rises two spots on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart to No. 17, the single also debuts at No. 36 on the latest Pop Airplay chart.
“Cupid” is gaining serious steam at radio, with the girl group’s track registering 1,700 total plays across U.S. terrestrial and satellite radio in the week ending May 11, according to Luminate. That number represents a 228% jump from the prior week, and “Cupid” has now earned 2,400 total plays.
Meanwhile, XG, the seven-member Japanese girl group that debuted under the XGALX label last January, has yet to hit the Hot 100 with its slinky, rhythmic electro-pop track “Left Right” — but as of now, the song is an even bigger radio hit than “Cupid” in the U.S. In its tenth week on the Pop Airplay chart, “Left Right” reaches a new peak, climbing two spots to No. 27.
The single – which XG’s Jurin told Billboard in January is “about our commitment to move forward, the only direction we know” – earned 3,000 radio plays in the week ending May 11, a 7% increase from the previous week. To date, “Left Right” has scored 20,000 total radio plays.
Both groups are capitalizing on the radio exposure: XG released a “Left Right” remix featuring Jackson Wang and Ciara earlier this month, and are slated to perform at the Head in the Clouds festival in New York this weekend. And FIFTY FIFTY announced a partnership with Warner Records last month — suggesting that, even as “Cupid” pushes up to No. 3 on the Global 200 chart, the four-piece will have an expanded focus in the United States in the coming months.