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: Buzz for Britney Spears’ The Woman in Me leads to gains across her catalog, Troye Sivan’s new single is boosted by a head-turning music video, an old Future mixtape favorite goes newly viral and more.
From Page-Turner to Play-Earner: Britney Spears’ Memoir Sends Her Streams Soaring
Britney Spears’ memoir, The Woman in Me, arrived on Tuesday (Oct. 24) amidst a bevy of headline-grabbing hype: from the details of her breakup with Justin Timberlake to her intense family drama to her Hollywood near-misses, the juiciest tidbits from the book have been making the Internet rounds over the past week. Ahead of the book release, the cavalcade of revelations — including plenty about the pop superstar’s recording career, too — motivated Spears fans to revisit her catalog, resulting in a healthy uptick in her sales and streams.
In the four days prior to the release of The Woman in Me (Oct. 20-23), Spears’ catalog earned 8.89 million official on-demand U.S. streams — a 21% increase from the previous Friday-to-Monday tracking period (Oct. 13-16), which earned 7.34 million streams, according to Luminate. Meanwhile, Spears’ digital sales in the U.S. more than doubled during those four-day periods, from under 1,000 from Oct. 13-16 to 2,300 a week later. Now that The Woman in Me is out and available for the public to pore over, we’ll keep an eye on Spears’ catalog in the coming weeks — perhaps even bigger bumps are in store for later this fall. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Troye Sivan Has ‘One’ Fast-Rising Hit From New Album
Following its Oct. 13 release, Troye Sivan’s third studio album Something to Give Each Other became his first No. 1 album in the Australian pop star’s native country, while also scoring a No. 20 debut on the Billboard 200. The album was preceded by the propulsive lead single “Rush,” which notched a No. 75 peak on the Hot 100 — and while none of the other tracks from the album have yet to hit the chart, Sivan’s latest single is rising with enough velocity that a debut could soon be in the cards.
That single is “One of Your Girls,” the bass-heavy, disco-tinged electro-pop groover, which received a buzzed-about music video on the day of Sivan’s album release. The video features the pop star performing in drag for the first time, giving former Disney star Ross Lynch a lapdance in one sequence. The combination of the music video, a good amount of TikTok usage and the song connecting on streaming platforms has positioned “Girls” as potentially the biggest hit from Sivan’s latest full-length.
On the day of the album release, “Girls” scored 1.12 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate — and while that daily streaming total dipped to 746,000 streams by that Sunday (Oct. 15), the song was back up to 938,000 streams on Thursday (Oct. 19). That consistency helped “Girls” debut at No. 60 on the Global 200, as well as No. 1 on the Bubbling Under chart — where it will try to leap off of, and onto the Hot 100 next week. – J.L.
310babii “Soak”s Up Breakout Streaming Hit Thanks to Rising Dance Craze
Hip-Hop and dance have gone hand in hand since the culture’s birth, and it’s only right that the tradition continues as the genre celebrates its 50th anniversary. 2023 has been a year ruled by hip-rocking Jersey club beats, but L.A. rapper 310babii is holding it down for the West Coast. His “Soak Baby (Do It)” single has become one of TikTok’s hottest songs thanks to a pair of simple dance trends – one that bears more similarity to tightly choreographed TikTok routines and another that mostly relies on a simple arm-rotating two-step move called the Squabble.
According to Luminate, “Soak City (Do It)” has earned 2.78 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of October 13-19. That’s a 136% increase from the 1.18 million streams the song pulled during the period of September 15-21. On TikTok, the official “Soak City” sound has garnered over 215,000 posts, a vast majority of which feature users participating in the various dance trends. The song’s official music video has also collected 1.48 million views on YouTube since it was uploaded on August 8, 2023. “Soak City” has been a slow-burning success – the song hit streaming in June and received a remix in September – but that patience is finally starting to pay off.
Future Stays “Wicked” for Life as TikTok Trend Revives 2016 Mixtape Cut
Few artists have been as omnipresent in music and culture as Future over the past decade, and his dominance continues with the recent revival of a 2016 mixtape hit. “Wicked” — which did not receive a commercial release until several months after its parent Purple Reign project hit mixtape hosting sites – has found a new life on TikTok. On the app, users have created a runaway dance trend to the song’s trademark mumbled chorus. In fact, the trend has also spawned reflections on another “Wicked” dance trend from 2016. This week (Oct. 21), “Wicked” debuted at No. 2 on the most recent TikTok Billboard Top 50 ranking.
According to Luminate, “Wicked” earned just over 558,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of Oct. 13-19. That’s a 46.4% increase from the 381,000 streams the song pulled three weeks ago during Sept. 22-28. On TikTok, the sound in the background of most of these videos includes music from “Wicked” without being attached to the song’s official sound. Over 2.4 million posts use this sound. As for the actual “Wicked” sound, over 16,800 posts have been made with the proper track. Even though the clumsy TikTok sound compartmentalization may have made it difficult for some users to find their way to Future’s song, “Wicked” is still posting impressive numbers and increases over seven years after its release.
Q&A: Alaysia Sierra, Spotify’s Head of R&B, on What’s Trending Up in Their World
What caused the decision for Spotify to rebrand its flagship R&B playlist?
As R&B evolves and takes up more space than it has in recent years, the genre is claiming some of the biggest moments in 2023, from albums to tours (and up on platform with nearly a 25% increase in streams, making it one of the fastest-growing genres on Spotify) – it made sense for us to reflect the shift through a rebrand that captures just how infinite R&B is. With RNB X, we wanted to create a visual and name that brings R&B to life.
How does RNB X better reflect the current state of R&B as compared to previous iterations of the playlist?
RNB X is meant to be global, representing where we are now but also seeking to represent the future. It’s key to highlight that for us, ‘X’ can mean multiple things. For example: ‘X’ marks the spot. If R&B lives anywhere, it lives here. ‘X’, can also mean sign here, and signatures are a big part of the brand visual as artist signatures have long been a part of their brand identity. Most importantly, ‘X’ is infinite, just like R&B.
SZA has dominated the year, but there’s a variety of fascinating songs and artists in the R&B space currently. Which current R&B trend are you most interested in?
I’m really loving the globalization of R&B, where other markets are incorporating their own sounds into the genre. From the richness of the U.K. R&B scene to all the textures of R&B coming out of Africa across the continent, we’re also seeing Australian R&B on the come up and Korean R&B thriving.
Fill in the blank: the R&B song that more people will be talking about before the end of the year is ______.
Honestly, I don’t think it’s been released yet, BUT this is hard because I hope we all know “On My Mama” by Victoria Monet and “Water” by Tyla by now. If anything, I just want everyone to listen to Cleo Sol and Leon Thomas before the end of the year, because we don’t talk about those albums enough. – JL
Season’s Gainings: Phillies Still “Dancing” Through NLCS Loss
It might not be much consolation to the Philadelphia Phillies following their NLCS Game Seven home loss last night to the Arizona Diamondbacks – eliminating them from the MLB playoffs and preventing a second straight World Series appearance – but they can once again claim to have swept the nation with their theme song. Calum Scott’s cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own,” which became the team’s postgame singalong during the 2022 postseason, was up 41% to 2.7 official on-demand U.S. streams (and up 145% over 2,900 in sales) for the chart week ending Oct. 19, according to Luminate, following the Phillies’ finishing off of the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS and through their first two home victories against the Diamondbacks. Not enough for Scott’s cover to threaten a return to the Hot 100 – though he did celebrate it passing a billion plays on Spotify – but as the Phillies are likely saying to themselves today. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
