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: Tommy Richman’s new internet-conquering smash looks on its way to being a star-making breakthrough, Daya enjoys a revived pop favorite from a decade ago and hitmakers from Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Nigeria join forces for a new global hit.
“Baby” It’s You: Tommy Richman’s Breakout Single Goes Viral, Boosts Back Catalog
If you weren’t previously familiar with Virginia singer-rapper Tommy Richman, it’s officially time to get acquainted. The Brent Faiyaz signee (to his ISO Supremacy agency) and tour opener first made impressions as a guest on Faiyaz’s Larger Than Life cut “Upset,” but now he’s got a breakout hit bigger than even anything on that acclaimed set: “Million Dollar Baby,” which after building buzz on TikTok, has debuted as an instantly viral streaming hit.
Upon its release on Friday (Apr. 26), “Million Dollar Baby” racked up 4.6 million on-demand U.S. audio streams, according to Luminate – an eye-popping number for a solo single by an artist with relatively unestablished commercial history. And after an inevitable decline in those totals for the rest of the weekend, the song surged again on Monday, capturing nearly 4.8 million streams, with the song racking up 16.6 million streams in total over a four-day period. (It also sold nearly 2,100 streams over that period, also a tremendous number for a new single from a newer artist.)
With these early numbers, Richman should be due for an impressive Hot 100 bow with his first crossover hit – and he’s already seeing the benefits from the new smash across the rest of his catalog, as well. For the four day period of Apr. 26-29, his discography (not including “Baby”) posted nearly 2.1 million on-demand U.S. audio streams, a gain of 106% from the four-day period before. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Daya’s ‘Hide Away’ Gets Found by TikTok, Nearly a Decade Later
Back in 2015, Daya, a 16-year-old pop singer-songwriter out of Pittsburgh, scored a surprise top 40 hit on the Hot 100 when debut single “Hide Away” reached No. 23 on the chart. Daya has since followed her lamentation over the lack of clearly visible high-quality guys with a handful of other hits, most notably the smash Chainsmokers collaboration “Don’t Let Me Down” — but nearly a decade after getting her start, “Hide Away” is back, picking up in streams thanks to (what else?) a TikTok trend.
In April, TikTok users began posting videos of themselves performing a three-person dance routine, with each of the first three lines of the “Hide Away” chorus soundtracking each member’s respective moves. As the trend proliferated, “Hide Away” started earning seven-figure weekly streams: the song scored 3.13 million U.S. on-demand streams from Apr. 19-25, according to Luminate, an increase of more than 600% from its streaming total three weeks earlier (431,000 from Mar. 29-Apr. 4).
Meanwhile, Daya, who released a string of new singles last year, seems to be enjoying the revival of her first: “Never saw the second life of this song coming 9 years in but here we are lol,” she wrote last week on Instagram. “‘Hide Away’ forever.” – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Rvssian, Rauw Alejandro & Ayra Starr Make It Christmas in May with Fast-Rising New Single ‘Santa’
What happens when Jamaica, Nigeria and Puerto Rico join forces? A streaming smash is born, of course. As the 2024 song of the summer race continues to heat up, Jamaican producer Rvssian, Puerto Rican Latin Grammy winner Rauw Alejandro and Nigerian Grammy nomineee Ayra Starr are throwing their collective hat in the ring with their new “Santa” collaboration.
The seductive collaboration combines notes of Afrobeats and reggaeton, with Rauw and Ayra trading verses about steamy trysts and undeniable sexual attraction. According to Luminate, “Santa” earned over 4.28 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of April 19-25. That figure marks a whopping 207% increase in streaming activity from two weeks prior (April 5-11), during which “Santa” collected around 1.39 million official streams.
After hitting DSPs early last month (April 4), “Santa” quickly exploded on TikTok, with an unofficial sound uploaded by Rvssian’s official account amassing over 378,000 posts. Much of the song’s TikTok traction has been sourced from a viral dance trend created by user @cornbreadjapan. The simple-yet-infectious choreography has been mimicked by hundreds of thousands of users since it first hit the algorithm on April 11. Several musicians have also participated in the trend, including members of K-Pop girl group ITZY and Rauw Alejandro and Ayra Starr themselves. On YouTube, the official “Santa” music video has been viewed over 10 million times in less than a month.
Although both Rvssian and Rauw have already notched Billboard Hot 100 entries, “Santa” could be the first for Ayra Starr, should its consumption continue to grow. To her credit, the “Bloody Samaritan” singer has already scored several top 10 hits on the U.S. Afrobeats Songs Chart, including 2022’s “Rush,” which finished at No. 7 on the 2023 Year-End U.S. Afrobeats Songs ranking. — KYLE DENIS
