Welcome to Billboard Pro’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: Drake’s biggest Iceman hit changes hands day-to-day, Yung Miami has a breakout solo hit, Noah Kahan’s blockbuster new album has a viral bonus cut and more.
‘Janice STFU’ Takes Over as Drake’s Top Iceman Song
Drake has obviously been the story of the streaming world this week, as his triple-release of new albums — Iceman, Maid of Honour and Habibti — has been setting all sorts of first-day and first-week marks on DSPs, and generally taking over discussion, as fans debate the merits of the albums and the strategy behind them. But while fans ingest the three albums and the combined 43 tracks between them, one song has begun to separate from the pack as the streaming favorite: “Janice STFU.”
In the days since the albums’ release, the Sopranos-referencing (and even Sopranos-sampling) Iceman cut has taken over as Drake’s top song — and indeed, the top song period — on the U.S. daily streaming charts for both Spotify and Apple Music. While its release Friday (May 16) saw Iceman opener “Make Them Cry” as the sets’ most-streamed cut with 14.1 million first-day official on-demand U.S. streams, according to early data provided by Luminate, by Saturday “STFU Janice” had taken over as the most-streamed cut with just over 6.2 million, narrowly beating out the Future- and Molly Santana-featuring “Ran 2 Atlanta” at just under 6.2 million. (“Make Them Cry” had dropped to 5.1 million.)
As of Monday, “Janice” was still pacing the set with 5.4 million daily plays, while also delighting fans and superproducers and NBA MVPs and even the progeny of West Coast rap royalty. In other words, if you’re wondering about the most likely breakout hit from the 43 new Drake songs in our lives this week — or maybe even the biggest threat to take over at No. 1 on next week’s Billboard Hot 100 — you should probably start here. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Yung Miami Eyes New Solo Hit As ‘Spend Dat’ Takes Off on Streaming
It’s been almost five years since Yung Miami scored her first unaccompanied Hot 100 entry with “Rap Freaks” (No. 81) — and it looks like her second is on the way.
Co-signed by Fat Joe and Jadakiss and steadily winning over social media, “Spend It” arrived on April 24, alongside its official music video. The hook-laden mid-tempo track finds the former City Girls member exploring familiar territory — scamming and contemporary romance — and its catchy hook has won over audiences due to its sing-songy cadence and Miami’s Opa-locka-rooted accent.
Miami has also been hitting the promo circuit in anticipation of her forthcoming solo debut studio album, even sharing an EP of alternate version for fans who felt the song would sound better if sped up. Her presence and dedication to the record — combined with early skeptics eventually coming around — have resulted in notable streaming gains. According to Luminate, “Spend Dat” collected a little over 1 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of May 1-7. That figure leapt 107% to over 2.23 million official streams the following week (May 8-14).
On May 9, TikTok user @/mrflawdaaa (a popular creator who’s launched viral dances for artists like Bossman Dlow), shared a “Spend Dat” dance challenge, racking up nearly 600,000 views and sparking a legitimate trend. Yung Miami hopped on the trend by May 17, with her post earning over 1.3 million views. During the weekend of May 8-10, “Spend Dat” earned over 870,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, with that figure jumping 107% to over 1.8 million official streams the following weekend, which reflects about a week of the dance trend’s burgeoning virality.
On TikTok, the official “Spend Dat” sound plays in nearly 8,000 clips, while the sound attached to her On the Radar performance of the song can be heard in 17,000 additional posts. “Spend Dat” also plays in over 3,300 Instagram Reels. With a “Spend Dat” Goyard giveaway in process, a gas drive in her hometown of Miami on May 17 and the full album still on the way — expect “Spend Dat” to continue growing as the summer heats up. — KYLE DENIS
Noah Kahan’s ‘Orbiter’ Is Becoming a Breakout Bonus Track
Not far behind Drake, the reception for Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide album is undoubtedly becoming one of the streaming stories of the year. Not only did the album generate enough blockbuster-sized numbers during its debut week to chart all 17 tracks on the Hot 100 — as well as four extra bonus cuts, added to the album before the end of its first day of release — but the 21 combined Kahan songs all continued to stream well enough in the album’s second week to spend a second week on the chart, a rare level of week-over-week consistency for such a big debut.
While the decline has been slow, the great majority of the 21 songs have slipped week-to-week in streams from that debut week. But “Orbiter,” a tender ballad included as one of the four bonus cuts added to the album slightly after the fact, has actually begun to gain, and is now positioned to be one of the biggest and longest-lasting hits from this Kahan era.
The growth has come from TikTok’s embrace of the song as a trending audio, with its sentimental “I circle you” chorus soundtracking many thousands of clips — most from one half of a couple paying tribute to the other, but also including infinite varieties on that theme. Another similar audio focusing on the “even anxious pups need the moon” part of the refrain has become a predictable favorite among pet-owners, with Kahan himself indulging in such a video last week, captioning it “This trend is making my eyes dusty.”
The impact of these trends has been evident in the song’s official on-demand U.S. audio streams, which have climbed from 4.6 million for the tracking week ending Apr. 30 (just after the album’s release) to 5.3 million the week ending May 7 and 6.7 million the week ending May 14 — in total a 46% gain from release week. Meanwhile, the song has climbed from No. 79 to No. 56 on the Hot 100, leapfrogging several songs on the album that initially debuted higher than it, and threatening to jump into the chart’s top half next week as it continues to dustify eyes of listeners across the country. – AU
PinkPantheress Celebrates One Year of ‘Fancy That’ Era with One More Streaming Hit
From “Illegal” to “Stateside” — not to mention double Grammy nominations — PinkPantheress’ Fancy That era has been a resounding success. On May 8, she shared the official “Girl Like Me” music video to celebrate her mixtape’s first birthday — and sneakily launch her latest streaming hit.
About a month before the music video arrived, “Girl Like Me” earned just over one million official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of April 10-16. That figure jumped 56% over the following two weeks to over 1.69 million official streams during the period of April 24-30, according to Luminate. By the week of May 8-14, which accounts for the first full week of the music video’s release, “Girl Like Me” leapt a further 69% to over 2.85 million official weekly streams. Over the past four weeks, “Girl Like Me” has exploded by over 165% in streaming activity.
Notably, there’s also a mashup of “Girl Like Me” and Snow Strippers’ “Under Your Spell” that’s been dominating TikTok over the past 4-5 months, playing in over 125,000 clips on the platform, with most of those finding users recreating Pink’s live choreography for her song. “Girl Like Me” also currently plays in over 12,000 Instagram Reels.
Already a No. 13 hit on Billboard‘s Dance/Pop Songs chart, “Girl Like Me” could potentially make Fancy That the soundtrack for a second consecutive summer. — K.D.
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