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: Songs by Olivia Rodrigo, Sufjan Stevens and more benefit from synchs in the new ‘Summer I Turned Pretty’ season, Connie Francis’ catalog rockets up in sales and streams after her death, Pierce the Veil scores a belated hit with a 2023 song and more.
‘Summer’ Season 3 Synchs Turn Up the Heat on Songs by Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo, Justin Timberlake & More
Few, if any, TV shows at the moment have a greater commitment to big songs in big moments than Amazon Prime’s The Summer I Turned Pretty. The hit teen drama made waves in its first two seasons for its extensive use of Taylor Swift synchs — even premiering the new “Taylor’s Version” of 1989 deep cut “This Love” in its 2022 pre-premiere trailer — and the first two episodes of Season Three (which premiered last Wednesday, July 16), make extensive use of everything from classics by alt-rock stars Red Hot Chili Peppers and Cranberries to newer songs by rap hitmakers Jack Harlow and Saweetie.
Many of those songs, both old and new-ish, have seen major streaming gains since the season’s Amazon debut a week ago. Justin Timberlake’s ‘00s hit “Summer Love,” used in a car singalong scene in the season premiere, racked up over 1.3 million streams in this the first four days of this tracking week (July 18-21) — up 105% from the 641,000 it notched over the same period the week before, according to early data provided by Luminate — while songs from V, SZA and Coi Leray also saw smaller-but-notable gains.
The season’s second episode saw big gains for even more of its featured songs. Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts fan-favorite ballad “Lacy,” used during a tearful reminiscence scene, rose 62% to 1.3 million over the same period, while Ariana Grande’s rueful “I Wish I Hated You,” used for a bitterly nostalgic sequence, doubled to 370,000 streams. And perhaps the biggest bump came for Sufjan Stevens’ Call Me By Your Name modern standard “Mystery of Love,” used during an emotionally loaded late-episode scene, which rose 163% to 705,000 over that period.
And there’s been no Taylor Swift yet through two episodes — so the biggest music moments from Summer Season Three may still be yet to come. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Pierce the Veil Snags Surprise Sleeper Streaming Hit With ‘So Far So Fake’
By and large, America is still in its yeehaw era — but a turn to rock ‘n’ roll (in all of its forms) seems to be on the horizon.
Aided, in part, by a trend highlighting the often-overlooked segment of Black rock fans, Pierce the Veil’s “So Far So Fake” is experiencing a streaming resurgence. Though similar videos have popped up on TikTok since the song’s 2023 release, the recent momentum appears to have been sparked by user @selfishmavchines’ July 11 video, in which she wines her waist to a groovy, R&B-inflected instrumental break in “So Far So Fake.” Captioned, “[Pierce the Veil] is [just] a bunch of screaming and whining,” the dance clip is intended to show off the versatility of the band’s sound. User @selfishmavchines’ original clip has since earned over 1.7 million views and 335,000 likes, helping the official “So Far So Fake” TikTok sound reach nearly 15,000 posts. “So Far” pulled over 185,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in the four-day period following user @selfishmavchines’ post (July 11-14). The next week (July 18-21), that figure jumped nearly 540% to over 1.18 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to early data provided by Luminate.
“So Far So Fake” appears on Pierce the Veil’s The Jaws of Life album, which reached No. 14 on the Billboard 200 and topped Hard Rock Albums in 2023. The band has already charted four of the album’s tracks on Hot Hard Rock Songs — “Pass the Nirvana” (No. 4), “Emergency Contact” (No. 5), “Even When I’m Not With You” (No. 9), “Kiss Me Now” (No. 12) — and “So Far So Fake” could make it five should it maintain its momentum. – KYLE DENIS
Connie Francis’ Streams and Sales Soar After Her Death at 87
It’s very sad, though also maybe a little touching, that Connie Francis died just months after she had her biggest moment of pop visibility in decades: We wrote about the surprise TikTok success of her 1962 B-side “Pretty Little Baby” back in May, which was enough to foist Francis onto the Global 200 and Digital Song Sales charts for the first time in her career. Now, following her passing, her entire catalog is up, as her old fans rediscover (and perhaps younger fans discover anew) her catalog gems beyond that unexpectedly viral smash.
In fact, the continued popularity of “Pretty Little Baby” disguises a bit just how much the rest of Francis’ discography is up this week. All together, Francis’ body of work amassed 3.4 million official on-demand U.S. streams over the four-day period following her Thursday (July 17) death, according to early data provided by Luminate — up 131% from the four-day period prior to her death. But if you remove “Baby” from those calculations — which on its own accounted for nearly 65% of her streaming numbers from July 13-16 — her catalog was up a whopping 295%,to just over two million streams. (“Baby” itself rose 42% to nearly 1.4 million streams over the same period.) Her catalog also sold over 6,200 digital songs over that period, a 1,426% gain.
Meanwhile, some of Francis’ other biggest gainers and best-sellers during this stretch include her late-’50s breakthrough hits “Who’s Sorry Now” (up 437% to 182,000 streams) and “Stupid Cupid” (up 96% to 240,000), as well as her ‘60s favorite “Where the Boys Are” (up 354% to 147,000). – AU
Viral ‘Aura Farming’ Indonesian Boat Race Kid Helps Melly Mike Earn Biggest Hit Yet
Indonesia’s Pacu Jalur, an annual boat race featuring young dancer on the bow of each boat dancing to entertain the crowd and motivate the rower, has provided one of the most unlikely sports-music crossover moments of the year.
On TikTok, users started to pair videos of Dika, the most popular boat performer, with both the concept of “aura farming” (a Gen Alpha term referring to repetitively doing an action to appear cool or aligned with a specific aesthetic) and Melly Mike’s “Young Black & Rich,” giving all involved parties a massive viral moment. From the PSG and AC Milan football clubs to Travis Kelce and KSI, Dika’s dance moves helped the official “Young Black & Rich” TikTok sound reach over 141,000 posts.
During the week of June 20-26, “Young Black & Rich” earned over 200,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. The following week (June 27-July 4), which accounts for the earliest viral clips of Dika, that figure jumped by 350% to over 920,000 official streams. During the week of July 5-11, once the clips got more time to visit more FYPs and the trend increased in popularity, streaming totals for “Young” lifted a further 148% to over 2.28 million official streams. Those gains continued in the following week (July 12-18), with “Young” scoring a 19% increase to over 2.73 million official on-demand U.S. streams. Over the past three weeks, Melly Mike’s new hit has exploded over 1,235% in streaming activity.
Melly Mike originally dropped “Young Black & Rich” in June 2024, and a little over a year later, the song’s journey is still just getting started. This year, Pacu Jalur takes place from Aug. 20-24, and Melly Mike has already confirmed his attendance — and a performance of “Young Black & Rich.” – KD