Clean Bandit & Zara Larsson’s ‘Symphony’ Leads TikTok Billboard Top 50 for Second Week
The top two of the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart remains the same, with Clean Bandit’s “Symphony” and Surf Curse’s “Disco” at Nos. 1 and 2, while Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste” nears the top by jumping 9-3 on the ranking dated Sept. 7.
The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity from Aug. 26 to Sept. 1. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.
“Symphony,” which features Zara Larsson, logs a second week at No. 1 after debuting at the top of the Aug. 31 tally. That’s as streams of the 2017 track continue to rise, accruing 1.5 million official U.S. streams in the week ending Aug. 29, up 84%, according to Luminate. (The song reached No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2017.)
As mentioned in the article announcing the Aug. 31-dated TikTok Billboard Top 50, “Symphony” is driven on TikTok by a trend using a meme featuring colorful dolphins, often with captions that go against the lively photos and videos and take a darker tone. Larsson herself eventually used the meme in the background during one of her concerts as a nod to the trend.
Surf Curse’s “Disco” remains at No. 2 via a two-person trend, begetting yet another rise in streams to 2.8 million in the week ending Aug. 29 (up 67%).
Carpenter’s “Taste” sports a big gain at No. 3, up from its No. 9 debut Aug. 31 that occurred despite just three days of tracking following its Aug. 23 release. With a full week of data, it rises to No. 3, concurrent with its No. 2 debut on the Billboard Hot 100, as previously reported.
“Taste” benefits from a feature in which users can create a custom frame by using the song, as well as lip-synch clips and content reposting the song’s music video.
Overall, Carpenter sports three appearances on the latest TikTok Billboard Top 50. “Bed Chem” debuts at No. 18, while “Please Please Please,” which peaked at No. 2 in June, ranks at No. 36.
“Die With a Smile,” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, and Alphaville’s “Forever Young” round out the top five, both reaching the region for the first time. The former, which debuted at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and currently appears at No. 6 on the multimetric survey, is largely driven by romance-themed uploads (homecoming proposals, edits of popular TV shows and movies, lip-synchs, etc.). “Forever Young,” No. 65 on the Hot 100 in 1988, is similarly buoyed by fictional character edits, plus clips reminiscing about the passage of time.
See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.
Kevin Rutherford
Billboard
