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: Sexyy Red is again the 'Get-It' girl for the start of the year, Justin Timberlake's tide is all over *NSYNC, and a Milwaukee rap phenomenon scores his first viral hit on TikTok.
Sexyy Red continues to “Get It” in 2024
There was no doubt that Sexyy Red was one of the breakout rappers of 2023, with “Pound Town,” “SkeeYee” and “Lookin' for the Hoes” proving viral sensations and her Hood's hottest princess album that shows he could sustain that excitement at a level for a full LP. But for all her success last year, Sexyy has yet to reach the top half of the Hot 100 with any of her own singles. Her lone appearance in that area of the chart to date came with her appearance (with SZA) on Drake's “Rich Baby Daddy,” a No. 11 chart-topping hit that spent 22 weeks on the chart before finally dropping this week .
That may change next week with the debut of Sexyy Red's new single, “Get It Sexyy,” out via Open Shift/gamma. The song, another collaboration with 'Pound Town' producer Tay Keith, was teased extensively on TikTok ahead of its release on Friday (March 15) and also benefited from the rapper's winning performance at Rolling Loud over the weekend. With its frenetic beat and shout-along hook, the song instantly took off on streaming, even reaching No. 1 on Apple Music's real-time chart on Saturday. The song racked up 8.4 million official US on-demand streams in its first four days of release (March 15-18), according to Luminate, while it climbed in streams from Sunday to Monday, suggesting it may still be picking up steam only as a Beat.
The song is likely to debut on next week's Hot 100 (dated March 30) and looks certain to surpass the No. 62 charting “SkeeYee” for the rapper's biggest hit on the chart date — suggesting that even and after her impressive In 2023, things will only get Sexyy-er in hip-hop in 2024. – ANDREW UNDERBERGER
*NSYNC's Surprise Reunion (and New Song) Boost Boy Band's Back Catalog
If “Better Place,” last year's *NSYNC single for the Trolls Band Together soundtrack, was a delightful new treat after more than two decades without music from the best-selling group, fans of the quintet are in for a treat this week. Not only do *NSYNC diehards have an extended new album from Justin Timberlake, Everything I thought it was, but this 77-minute project also features another new *NSYNC track, the heartfelt ballad “Paradise.” Additionally, Timberlake brought out JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick at his Los Angeles preview last Wednesday night (March 13), for a surprise mini-set of *NSYNC hits like “Girlfriend” and “It's gonna be me.”
Naturally, the combination of the new track on Timberlake's album and the unexpected reunion gave *NSYNC's full discography a healthy boost on streaming services last week. In the three days following the show in Los Angeles (March 14-16), *NSYNC's catalog earned 3.9 million on-demand streams in the US — a figure that's nearly 25% higher than the same period over the previous three days (3 .1 million streams from Mar. 11-13), according to Luminate. There's no word on the future of *NSYNC as of here, but with Timberlake embarking on a world tour next month, let's hope the boy band gets to play a few more shows together before saying “Bye Bye Bye” for a while. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Milwaukee Rapper JP Plays Midwest With Viral Hit “Bad Bitty”
Milwaukee has something to say. As hip-hop continues its love fest with Jersey club dance bounce and subsequent iterations of the New York drill, Milwaukee rapper JP injects some Midwest flair into the conversation. His breakout single, “Bad Bitty,” garnered 1.2 million official US on-demand streams from March 8-14, according to Luminate. That's a whopping 170% increase in streaming activity from the 440,000 streams the song earned three weeks earlier during the February 16-22 period. “Bad Bitty” has grown in streams every week for the past three weeks, jumping nearly 75% between February 16-22 and February 23-29, and growing an additional 38% between March 8-14 and March 1-7.
The Milwaukee rapper's song has exploded on TikTok over the past two weeks thanks to an aggressive campaign by the artist that includes intense fan engagementsimple shaking the head choreography and a meme engaging the “noooo” ad-libs on the song's chorus. In an interview with DJ Jerry, JP explained that he laid the foundation for “Bad Bitty” by beating the algorithm at its own game. As fellow Milwaukee Emcee 414BigFrank scored his own viral success “Eat her,” JP would make videos to this song while slowly making his way into videos featuring excerpts from the then-unreleased “Bad Bitty.” Eventually, TikTok users flooded his comments section begging him to drop the entire song, resulting in the song dropping on February 9.
To further fan the flames of virality, JP's sexuality also became a hot topic on TikTok after an image resurfaced of what appears to be him in pajamas with another man. Unsurprisingly, in typical Gen Z fashion, the majority of users couldn't care less about JP's sexuality as well, taking the time to make separate TikTok posts promise theirs submission to the rapper. Additionally, JP himself commented on the situation during a TikTok live, saying, “I don't like n—as, I just stepped on that n—a.” The 'controversy' has proven to be nothing but good press for both JP and 'Bad Bitty', highlighting the younger generation's changing attitudes towards male rappers exploring their sexuality – and gaining viral success in the process . – KYLE DENNIS
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/sexyy-red-get-it-sexyy-biggest-hit-trending-up-1235637027/