Beach Weather Rides TikTok Virality to No. 1 on Alternative Airplay Chart

Beach Weather‘s “Sex, Drugs, Etc.” was originally released in 2016, and now it’s No. 1 on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart dated Oct. 29, 2022.

The track scored TikTok virality beginning earlier this year, leading to its servicing to radio and eventual chart run.

“Sex” is Beach Weather’s first Alternative Airplay No. 1, in the Massachusetts band’s first trip to the chart. The act is the second to rule with an initial entry in 2022, following BoyWithUke, whose “Toxic” led for a week in July. Like “Sex,” “Toxic” also went viral on TikTok.

“We never thought ‘Sex, Drugs, Etc.’ would be the song people gravitate to,” Beach Weather frontman Nick Santino, from Braintree, Mass., said in a release. “I can relate to the meaning of it personally. It’s about having anxiety. I don’t really go out. I’m not a big party guy. I’m the opposite; I’m a homebody. It’s amazing to see a lot of listeners identify with it.”

Concurrently, “Sex” bullets at its No. 6 high on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 3 million audience impressions, up 6%, according to Luminate.

While it initially appeared on Alternative Airplay in August, “Sex” debuted on the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart in July at No. 43; it’s since risen to No. 17, where it spends a second frame on the latest list. In addition to its radio airplay, the song drew 3.8 million official U.S. streams in the Oct. 14-20 tracking week, up 2%. The song also ranks at its highs of No. 12 on Hot Alternative Songs and at No. 15 on Hot Rock Songs.

“Sex” was first released on Beach Weather’s 2016 six-song collection Chit Chat. The band had not since released new material until this August, when it premiered the song “Unlovable.”