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: Post Malone and Morgan Wallen see their whole catalogs lifted by their massive new collab, Tinashe gets involved with a hilarious TikTok trend around her new hit and an ’80s Johnny Cash single gets an unlikely second life soundtracking a viral pet trend.
‘Help’ Is on the Way: Post Malone & Morgan Wallen Earn Massive Streams Ahead of Hot 100 Debut
Considering how Morgan Wallen dominated the charts in 2023, and how Post Malone has been an in-demand collaborator for music’s biggest superstars in recent months, it should come as no surprise that their new team-up “I Had Some Help” is off to a fast start at streaming. Yet the country duet is exceeding even the loftiest expectations out of the gate — not only challenging for a No. 1 debut on next week’s Hot 100, but also for one of the biggest streaming weeks of 2024, while also lifting up Posty and Wallen’s respective back catalogs.
In its first four days of release (May 10-13), “Help” scored 44.8 million U.S. official audio streams, while also earning 59,000 in digital sales, according to Luminate. We’ll see where the single’s first-week streaming total finishes in a few days, but the number likely won’t be too far off from Taylor Swift and Post Malone’s “Fortnight,” which currently holds the 2024 one-week streaming belt with 76.2 million streams. Meanwhile, “Help” has boosted Post Malone’s streaming catalog outside of the new single by 10% — 34.4 million streams from May 10-13, up from 31.3 million from the previous Friday-to-Monday tracking period — and Wallen’s by a little under 7% (102.6 million streams, up from 96 million streams), as fans click from “Help” to both artists’ past hits on streaming platforms.
And don’t look now, but Wallen may have another hit spinning off from his 2023 blockbuster album, One Thing at a Time: “Cowgirls,” featuring ERNEST, has been steadily climbing in streams over the past six weeks, from 5.6 million streams during the chart week ending Apr. 4 to 9.6 million streams during the week ending May 10, while entering the top 20 on Country Airplay. “Cowgirls” also climbs to a new peak of No. 6 on Hot Country Songs this week, which means that Wallen could have a pair of collaborations, one old and one new, in the top 5 of next week’s tally. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Tinashe Courts Summer Streaming Hit with Meme-Assisted “Nasty”
Eight years after her last Billboard Hot 100 entry, Tinashe could be gearing up for another big pop moment, should her sultry new “Nasty” single continue its streaming ascent.
According to Luminate, “Nasty” — a taste of her forthcoming BB/ANG3L Pt. 2 — Quantum Baby LP, collected over 705,000 U.S. on-demand audio streams during the period of May 10-13. That marks an impressive 48% increase from just over 475,000 streams the previous weekend (May 3-6).
Tinashe’s core fans greeted “Nasty” with fervent enthusiasm when it arrived on April 12, but a recent meme – that comes with its own built-in choreography – has helped the grow the song’s profile across a wider range of listeners. On April 27, X user @grruessome posted a re-posted a 2023 TikTok from user @nate_di_winer, replacing his clip’s original music (Hey Choppi’s “Blind”) with Tinashe’s “Nasty.” That post garnered over 10 million views on X, setting the stage for a true viral moment. While other songs, including Kendrick Lamar’s Hot 100-topping “Not Like Us,” have been laid over the clip, social media users can’t get enough of the Tinashe version.
On TikTok, Tinashe tried her hand at the dancehall-inspired choreography with her own three consecutive TikToks, featuring her donning Nate’s signature white t-shirt and black-rimmed glasses combo. “Me trying to convince everyone this is the song of the summer,” she captioned one post, with subsequent videos teasing a potential “Nasty” remix. The official “Nasty” sound boasts nearly 15,000 clips on TikTok, with most users recreating the dance moves executed by Nate and his dance partner, TikTok user @_sheekz.
Having already climbed to No. 30 on Spotify’s Viral 50 USA ranking, things are certainly looking up for “Nasty.” – KYLE DENIS
Adorable Pet Trend Revives 40-Year-Old Johnny Cash Song
The timelessness of Johnny Cash’s music is practically a universal truth, but now we have proof that even his less-beloved works can still find ways to resonate anew. Thanks to an adorable TikTok trend, Cash’s “The Chicken in Black” — which the country icon once called “intentionally atrocious” — is experiencing a massive streaming boost.
During the period of May 3-10, “Chicken” earned over 1.4 million official on-demand U.S. streams, posting an astronomical 5,656% increase from the 24,000 streams it pulled just a month earlier (April 5-11). The exponential week-over-week growth of “Chicken” is due to a TikTok trend in which users hold up their pet (or baby) and pretend to use them as a gun while acting out the lyrics to the song’s chorus. Cash sings, “I said, ‘Stick ’em up everybody, I’m robbing this place’/ Drop all of your money in my guitar case/ Don’t nobody move and don’t nobody reach for that door.”
Cash released the amusing song as a single back in 1984 and it reached No. 45 on Hot Country Songs. The song’s streaming boost has also translated into an uptick in digital downloads, with 751 copies sold during May 3-10, a whopping 18,675% increase from just 4 copies sold during April 5-11. On TikTok, the official “Chicken in Black” sound boasts nearly 217,000 clips, with racoons, dogs, goats, cows, birds and babies all joining in on the fun.
With Songwriter, his 72nd studio album and fifth posthumous studio LP, due next month (June 28), Cash is still collecting hits and blessing the world’s ears over 20 years after his tragic passing. – KD
