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: Britney Spears fans are assured Justin Timberlake isn't alone on the charts with his 'Selfish' this week, a Prime Video music series looks to be on the verge of a big break, 'Not the 1975' passes in 1975 radio and more.
Justin Timberlake's New Single Release Troll 'Selfish' Britney Spears Fans Revive Bonus Track 'Femme Fatale' 13 Years Old
A little low-stakes trolling never hurt anyone, right? Last Friday (January 25), Justin Timberlake launched the campaign for Everything I thought it was – his forthcoming sixth studio album – with lead single 'Selfish'.
Of course, Timberlake's name has been embroiled in controversy for the past few months after nasty quotes from Britney Spears The Woman In Me memoir, in which she reflects on how he cheated on her, dumped her right before filming a music video, and played guitar as she cried on the bathroom floor after miscarrying their unborn child.
To troll Timberlake's release, Britney fans started supporting a Spears single called “Selfish.” A bonus track from the 2011 deluxe edition Fatal woman, “Selfish” had had almost no meaningful commercial success prior to this weekend. At one point, Spears' “Selfish” topped the US iTunes Chart, beating out a Tom McDonald-Ben Shapiro collaboration, Megan Thee Stallion's much-talked-about “Hiss” and Timberlake's own “Selfish” in the process.
According to Luminate, between January 29-31, Spears' “Selfish” garnered over 397,000 official on-demand streams, a whopping 14,978% increase from just over 2,600 streams between January 22-24. Notably, Spears' “Selfish” also sold just under 10,000 digital copies during Jan. 29-31, a huge improvement from the negligible number of copies the song sold on Jan. 22-24.
For what it's worth, Spears has since come out as a fan of Timberlake's “Selfish,” writing on Instagram (which is now private), “I'm so in love with Justin Timberlake's new song 'Selfish'. It's so good.” Timberlake's new single earned 4.8 million official on-demand streams between January 29-31.– KYLE DENNIS
Will “Hazbin Hotel” Retain “Encanto” Slot In 2024 Charts?
For all the movie musicals that have taken over the box office in recent months – Wonka, The Color Purple, Bad Girls – may be an animated musical comedy series whose soundtrack has had the most profound impact on Advertising sign chart this year. Hazbin Hotel, created by Vivienne Medrano and featuring songs composed by Sam Haft and Andrew Underberg (no relation), has taken off with viewers and critics since the first four episodes of the first season premiered on Amazon Prime two Thursdays ago (18 January). Now, with two more episodes coming out on January 25th, the series is starting to make its presence felt in sales and streaming.
“Poison” (sung by cast member Blake Roman) and “Loser Baby” (by Roman and co-star Keith David), both featured in the season's fourth episode (“Masquerade”), are available on DSP via by A24 Music. two top performers from the show so far. “Poison” scored more than 2.4 million official US on-demand streams for the week ending Jan. 25 (after the episode premiered), according to Luminate, while “Loser” fared even better, with over from 2.7 million streams. What's more, both are still winning: “Poison” has infected more than 1.8 million streams in the first four days of this tracking week (January 26-29) – a 61% increase over the same period last week – while “Loser” has earned nearly 2 million over the same period, a 60% gain.
Neither song is threatening the Hot 100 just yet (“Poison” has made a few alternate charts), but as the show continues to generate buzz — and as the final two songs of the first season arrive this Thursday (Feb. 1) — it's hard not to have the same feeling Encanto was created when his songs began to break the surface of the mainstream in early 2022. Whether any of the songs can become crossover hits on the level of “We Don't Talk About Bruno” remains to be seen, but karaoke rooms should probably start preparing for the impact just in case. – ANDREW UNDERBERGER
Michael Marcagi Starts Strong “Start” With Second Single
As both Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan have deposited their work atop the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts, a natural byproduct of their respective successes has been the proliferation of their rustic, tightly crafted country-folk fusions. Fans of both singers have certainly taken a shine to “Scared to Start,” the new single from Cincinnati singer-songwriter Michael Marcagi, who fronted rock quartet The Heavy Hours before striking out on his own. Debut single “The Other Side” garnered some attention upon its December release, but based on early streaming returns, its follow-up could be a breakthrough.
After Marcagi premiered the single ahead of its Jan. 12 release, “Scared to Start” is off to a strong start, with 2.54 million official US on-demand streams in its first week of release and another 3.64 million in its second week – a week 42%. -week jump, according to Luminate. The song has been added to Spotify's Hot Hits USA and Pop Rising playlists, while Marcagi has continued to promote “Scared to Start” and repost fan covers on his TikTok page, which has 165,000 followers. “Scared to Start”'s softly shimmering electric guitar and tender anthems sound straight out of the stick era — and Marcagi, a recent Warner Records signee, might crack the Hot 100 with it soon enough. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Rich Amiri Bags Flow and Crash in Just One Call
“I don't trust a soul, I don't trust nobody / I popped some pills, I don't trust my body,” opens the chorus of Rich Amiri's “One Call.” These lines – paired with pluggnb's rattling production – cleverly invoke social media's self-destructive obsession with 'haters', thus providing two direct gateways to TikTok virality for the single.
“One Call”, taken from Amiri's Internet Money/10K Projects LP Ghetto Fabulous (2023), saw a 289% increase in official US on-demand streams over the past five weeks. During the week of January 19-25, the track recorded 4.69 million streams, significantly higher than the 1.2 million it recorded on December 22-28. On TikTok – where users often use the song to make a soundtrack video game fan edits and lip sync clips – the official “One Call” sound boasts 31,600 publications. On YouTube, the official piece music video – which debuted on November 8, 2023 – has amassed over 2.9 million views.
Debuting on both the Bubbling Under Hot 100 (No. 7) and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (No. 45) this week (both charts dated February 3, 2024), “One Call” is shaping up to as Rich Amiri's first career Billboard Hot 100 entry. – KD
'Not the 1975' Gets Bigger at Pop Radio Than… In 1975
Last July, Atlantic-signed Nashville artist Knox crafted a pop-rock track around the dance lyric “Said 'I like your confidence, but you ain't 1975.' The 25-year-old singer-songwriter then weaved in references to the British band's songs 'Chocolate', 'Looking for Somebody (to Love)' and 'Oh Caroline' and titled the track 'Not The 1975'. Last month, the song proved a runaway hit for Knox – and more surprisingly, it continued to find an audience at US pop radio.
The all-format radio audience for “Not the 1975” increased from 141,000 plays during the week ending Jan. 4 to 1.1 million in the most recent tracking week, according to Luminate. That's good enough to land the Knox single at No. 35 on this week's Pop Airplay chart — a format that hasn't fully embraced the real 1975, even though they've headlined arenas across America in recent years. 1975's biggest Pop Airplay hit to date is the aforementioned “Chocolate,” which reached No. 25 on the chart in 2014, and the band hasn't graced the chart since “The Sound” in 2016. That means, depending on how much spin Knox continues to collect in the coming months, “Not the 1975” could climb higher on this chart than 1975 did. – JL
Earnings season: Travis Kelce continues to fight the good 'fight'
It may have confused those unfamiliar with recent Kansas City Chiefs history when starting tight end (and Taylor Swift artist) Travis Kelce interrupted his postgame interview following his team's AFC Championship victory to croons the chorus to the Beastie Boys' 1986 classic “(You Gotta ) Fight for Your Right (To Party).” But the song has been a rallying cry for the Chiefs since Kelce first belted it out in the AFC Championship Game a half-decade ago, and the team's faithful knew it was time to get it sick once more. : 'Fight for Your Right' is up 15% in combined official US on-demand streams (193,000 to 221,000) this Sunday and Monday (Jan. 27-28) from the same period last week . If the Chiefs win the their third Super Bowl in six years, two Sundays from now, maybe Mike D and Ad Rock can at least get some free championship jerseys.– AU
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/britney-spears-justin-timberlake-selfish-sales-trending-up-1235594534/