Welcome to Billboard Pro's Upward trends newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities 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: Shaboozey's SNL The appearance brings him one step closer to a second solo hit, an early MGMT clip helps one of their classic singles go viral again, and a new dance trend revives a 2Pac Hot 100-topper.
“Good News” on a Saturday night for Shaboozey's second hit
Shaboozey has been pretty much inescapable in recent months, with appearances at the CMA Awards and Grammy nominations and, of course, on the Billboard Hot 100, where the four-quarter-length “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” reigned for record. committing 19 weeks in late summer and fall. Now, he can add one Saturday Night Live stamp in his 2024 passport, as the country singer-songwriter made his debut at NBC's weekly comedy and live music institution on Nov. 30, performing both “A Bar Song” and his new single, “Good News” — the last one. recently debuted at No. 71 on the Hot 100.
As “Good News” aims to become Shaboozey's second major crossover hit in a row, the boost it received from his emotional SNL performance should undoubtedly help. “Good News” rose 13% in U.S. on-demand audio streams to 1.5 million during Sunday and Monday after showing up from the same period last week, according to Luminate — but more specifically , saw a 424% increase in sales to over 2,200 during the same two-day period. “A Bar Song,” which has led Digital Song Sales for 15 non-consecutive weeks already, was also up during that time — up 86% to nearly 2,600 in two days — as the pair of singles of Shaboozey won the first two. points on the iTunes chart in real time.
It may not propel “Good News” to a new Hot 100 peak next week, as the song struggles to overcome the deluge of holiday songs that have been crashing the chart in recent weeks — but good for the song that will find its way of as a jukebox singalong in its own right until early 2025. — ANDREW UNDERBERGER
The former Hot 100 No. 1 of 2Pac sees the resurgence of TikTok
Two weeks after Kendrick Lamar GNX brought renewed attention to “Made N—az” (K.Dot flips the 1997 track on “Reincarnated”), another 2Pac song making notable gains from streaming. Thanks to an infectious new dance trend featuring choreography from TikTok creators @roniahalynn_ and @donthurtemniaa2Pac's K-Ci and JoJo-assisted “How Do UU Want It” is up more than 102% in streaming activity over the past four weeks, according to Luminate.
Official US on-demand streams for “How Do U Want It” hovered around 900,000 before @roniahalynn_ posted the dance version on November 15. By the end of that week, “How Do U Want It” was up 14%, pulling in over 1.02 million streams between November 15-21. The original clip by user @roniahalynn_ has since garnered over 1.9 million views on TikTok and sound that he used now boasts over 209,000 posts. One more informal sound using bits of 2Pac's track is played on more than 138,000 posts, while another informal sound plays on nearly 50,000 posts. THE official “How Do U Want It” audio is played on less than 10,000 posts.
During the period of November 22-28, streaming activity for “How Do U Want It” increased by 44% to over 1.48 million streams. This figure further increased by 16% the following week (November 29-December 5), to over 1.7 million official US on-demand streams. Notably, @donthurtemniaa's original dance trend is soundtracked by 22Daboat's “Munyun.”
Having already entered the TikTok Billboard Top 50 at No. 16 (due Dec. 7), expect 2Pac's former Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper to continue to rise in streams as the dance trend grows. – KYLE DENNIS
MGMT Playing “Kids” as Kids: Old Footage Spurs New Streaming Gains
In 2003, Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser were students at Wesleyan University, playing tiny gigs on campus under the band name The Management. The duo would eventually rename themselves MGMT, become a seminal group of the late '00s indie boom, earn a Best New Artist Grammy nomination, and go on to a prolific, often quite prolific recording career, including this year's album Loss of Life. But this week, the Internet is getting an unexpected look back at those early college shows, thanks to some newly unearthed footage of the artist eventually known as MGMT performing his undeniable 2008 synth-pop single “Kids.”
A video uploaded by YouTube user Rad Scientist on Nov. 28, features VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser playing an outdoor concert during the day for their friends in front of a brick wall, running and sprawling on the ground when not performing early (but mostly intact) version of the song that would become “Children”. The clip went viral last week, and the unexpected trip down memory lane helped “Kids” jump 60% in weekly US on-demand streams, from 1.11 million in the week ending Nov. 28 to 1.78 million next week, according to Luminate . The flow increase will probably take a few weeks, but who knows? Indie nostalgia is a powerful thing — we might be treated to footage of Vampire Weekend performing “Campus” on campus next. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/shaboozey-good-news-saturday-night-live-performance-trending-up-1235852576/
