Welcome to Billboard Pro's Upward trends column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, oddities and trends that have caught the attention of the music industry. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all could become ubiquitous with the flash of a TikTok clip.
This week: The biggest 4th of July hit comes for a country legend, while Zach Bryan's new LP released on Independence Day creates a new hit and Bossman Dlow continues his 2024 winning streak.
Toby Keith, Forever Made in America
Last Thursday, America celebrated its Independence Day — and as always on the 4th of July, listeners flock to familiar patriotic, inspirational and/or generally US-themed pop, rock and country classics to soundtrack their holiday. The big gainers from July 3 to July 4 included many of the usual suspects: among them, Bruce Springsteen's “Born in the USA” (up 524% in official US on-demand streams to 2.7 million and up 219% in sales to 1,100). Katy Perry's “Firework” (up 249% to 1.8 million streams and 186% to 500 sales) and Miley Cyrus' “Party in the USA” (up 196% to 2.9 million streams and 113% to 800 in sales), according to Luminate. But the top-grossing Fourth of July artist may have been a particularly emotional person this year: Country Music Hall of Famer Toby Keith, who died at age 62 on Feb. 5.
Of course, Keith has always seen some July 4th push — particularly for his more distinctly American hits, which have been released again this year, including “American Soldier” (up 308% since July 3rd to 685,000 streams ), “Made in America ” (up 380% to 914,000 streams) and of course, the controversial post-9/11 anthem “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” (up 356% to a whopping 3.6 million). But this year, it wasn't just those songs that saw massive streaming gains on July 4: So did Keith's non-nationalist signature hits like 1993's “Should've Been a Cowboy” (up 70% to 864,000), Willie Nelson's 2003- with “Beer for My Horses” (up 124% to 644,000) and 2011's “Red Solo Cup” (up 119% to 351,000), among many others.
Overall, Keith's catalog racked up 10.7 million streams and 3,600 digital song sales on July 4 — gains of 165% and 251%, respectively, from his July 3 totals — making for one hell of a national tribute to a performer who made the his Love of country as fundamental a part of his artistic identity as any other major act of the past three decades. – ANDREW UNDERBERGER
'28', Days Later: Zach Bryan Has 'Bar Scene' Breakout
Over the past couple of years, Zach Bryan has become the type of stage-taking superstar that floods the streaming charts every time he drops a new album. it happened in 2023 with its self-titled full-length, and it's happening again with The Great American Bar Scene, which was released last Thursday (July 4). And while “Pink Skies,” the lead single from the album, debuted at No. 6 on the Hot 100 upon its release in May, the top-performing new track from the 19-song project that just dropped on early days of The release was “28”, the sad, string-laden swing of the album.
“28” dropped with 2.77 million official US on-demand streams Bar sceneIts release date, according to Luminate, and has held steady over the next four days — and actually appears to be growing, hitting a new daily high of 2.90 million streams on Tuesday, in fact. While many songs from Bar scene could debut on the Hot 100 next week, “28” — which is up to No. 9 on Spotify's Daily Top Songs USA chart and No. 3 on Apple Music's Top Songs — should kick off the best of the new songs on Bryan's latest. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Bossman Dlow Scored Another Hit Thanks To The Viral TikTok Trend
After making waves on the Billboard Hot 100 — “Get In With Me” (No. 49) and “Mr Pot Scraper” (No. 93) — and earning a string of viral hits along the way (“Big One,” “Talk My Shit” and “Finesse” featuring Glorilla), Port Salerno, FL rapper Bossman Dlow is one of the biggest stars of the year. With “Shake Dat Ass (Twerk Song)” gaining traction on the social networks and streaming, Dlow is looking at yet another success.
According to Luminate, “Shake” earned just over 317,000 official US on-demand streams during the June 7-13 period. This number then increased by 60% to 508,000 official streams the following week (June 14-20). On June 16, TikTok user @mrflawdaaa shared a 14 second clip of himself over-dancing the song. The clip quickly went viral – it has since racked up over three million views on the app – with many users latching onto the part of the choreography that includes a ridiculously sexy walk. During June 21-27, the first full week with @mrflawdaaa's dance trend in the zeitgeist, “Shake” garnered 1.54 million official streams, a whopping 203% increase from the previous period. The following week (June 28 – July 4), the hit jumped a further 117% to 3.35 million official streams. Over the past three weeks, official US on-demand streams for “Shake Dat Ass” have jumped over 956%.
Although he reached No. 20 on the Billboard 200 earlier this year with his third mixtape, Mr. Beat the Road“Shake Dat Ass” appears on the rapper's self-released debut, Too slipperywhich was released on January 1, 2023. With everyone from Kehlani to Taye Diggs to Coi Leray jumping on the dance trend, “Shake” looks poised to continue its growth. – KYLE DENNIS
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/toby-keith-streams-fourth-of-july-1235728039/
