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Welcome to Billboard‘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.
This week: Performers at President Trump’s second inauguration are up in sales but static in streams, Hozier takes over streaming with a new-old cover and a couple generation-separated indie singer-songwriters go viral for very different songs.
Inauguration Performances Spur Modest Sales Gains (But Streaming Dips) for Carrie Underwood, Nelly & More
The presidential inauguration of Donald Trump on Monday (Jan. 20) included multiple events with a variety of musical performances — many of which earned criticism from fans of artists aligning themselves with Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency, as well as statements by those artists defending their appearances. Chief among them were Carrie Underwood, who sang “America the Beautiful” after Trump delivered his inaugural address, and Nelly, who performed at the Liberty Inaugural Ball.
Although both the former American Idol winner and the St. Louis rapper made headlines for their performances connected to the inauguration, neither experienced much movement in their daily streaming totals as a result. Underwood’s catalog earned 1.46 million U.S. on-demand streams on Monday, down nearly 6% from the previous Monday (1.55 million on Jan. 13), according to Luminate. Nelly’s streaming catalog was also down 5%, from 1.63 million on Jan. 13 to 1.54 million on Inauguration Day. However, both artists experienced upticks in digital sales those days, with Underwood and Nelly moving a couple hundred extra daily downloads (although still posting fewer than 1,000 downloads for the day).
So how did a more politically outspoken performer fare? Kid Rock, a longtime Trump supporter who played a rally at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. the night before the inauguration, posted the slightest uptick in catalog streams on Inauguration Day (1.08 million, up from 1.07 million the previous Monday), as well as comparable gains in digital sales as Underwood and Nelly. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Fans ‘Wanna Know’ About Hozier’s 2014 Arctic Monkeys Cover
It feels like a fever dream of mid-’10s Tumblr alt-rock: Hozier, singer-songwriter behind one of the biggest and best-loved alt-rock hits of 2014, covering one of the year’s other biggest and best-loved hits in Arctic Monkeys’ “Do I Wanna Know.” The Irish crossover star did indeed do just that a decade ago, with a sweetly tender BBC Live Lounge rendition of the stomping late-night staple. Hozier’s version was never released as a single, but it did make an appearance on the special edition of his self-titled debut album, released in 2015.
Now, the song has taken on new life, as Hozier fans – who have multiplied in number over the past decade, especially following the release of his Hot 100-topping “Too Sweet” last year – have rediscovered the yearning cover, making it go viral all across social media, and on YouTube where the 10-year-old performance clip currently rates as one of the channel’s top 50 videos. The cover has particularly exploded over the last five days, amassing over 1.4 million combined official on-demand U.S. streams, up 3,941% from the same period the previous week, according to Luminate. And of course, the Arctic Monkeys original is feeling the spillover love too: The U.K. band’s original “Do I Wanna Know” racked up 3.5 million streams for the week ending Jan. 16, up 44% from the prior frame. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Beabadoobee’s ‘Real Man’ Becomes Her Latest Viral Hit
Beabadoobee has spent the past half-decade successfully braiding traditional indie-pop album releases and promotion with viral moments, as songs like her Powfu collaboration “Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head)” and her own “The Perfect Pair” have earned hundreds of millions of streams after blowing up with the TikTok set. The British singer-songwriter has now done it again with “Real Man,” the smoky, piano-laced standout from last year’s full-length This is How Tomorrow Moves.
The chorus line of “I guess no one ever taught you how to be a real man” has inspired a flex-inflected TikTok dance and wave of lip synchs, helping “Real Man” break through on streaming platforms. A month ago, the track earned 1.84 million U.S. on-demand streams for the week ending Dec. 26, according to Luminate; that number has now nearly doubled, to 3.67 million for the week ending Jan. 16. Meanwhile, “The Perfect Pair,” which went viral back in 2022, is going viral again (re-viraling?) thanks to “Real Man” listeners discovering the older track, with 3.68 million streams for the week ending Jan. 16 — up nearly 30% from a month ago. – JL
Julie Doiron Sets Her Calendar for a Surprise Viral Hit
A breakout hit would’ve been something close to unforeseeable for Julie Doiron even at the peak of her ‘90s hipness. The Canadian lo-fi indie singer-songwriter (and bassist for underground favorites Eric’s Trip) had never made significant impact on the Billboard charts during her now three-decade recording career, releasing a consistent stream of well-received albums but never really even threatening a crossover moment. That’s changed in the last couple months, however, as Doiron has scored one of the surprise streaming hits of the early year: “August 10,” from 1996’s Broken Girl.
The slow, sad and still determinedly un-pop ballad has taken off on TikTok – not due to any particular trend or synch or influencer endorsement, but just through a series of popular recreations (of both Doiron’s vocals and her bare-bones guitar playing) and emotional videos set to the pleading verse. The striking song has hit enough of a nerve – seasonal sadness, perhaps – that it has exploded to over four million official on-demand U.S. streams in the week ending Jan. 16, according to Luminate, part of a steady climb that’s seen the song rise a little every week going back to last November. The streaming activity has even powered the song to a debut on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs listing, reaching a No. 12 peak. If it’s doing this well in January, imagine what might happen when we actually get to August. – AU
