Everyone’s Coming to ROSÉ & Bruno Mars’ ‘APT.’
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: ROSÉ & Bruno Mars’ new collab looks to be another steady-growing success, a Beyoncé classic goes re-viral on its own and in mashup form, victory anthems for the two New York baseball teams prove postseason-ready and much more.
‘APT.’ Unlocked: ROSÉ & Bruno Mars Team-Up Starts Off Strong on Streaming
Watch out, Luka Doncic, James Harden and Tyrese Haliburton: as a new NBA season gets underway, Bruno Mars has already become the king of the assist this fall. After teaming up with Lady Gaga on “Die With a Smile,” which has spent its entire nine-week run on the Billboard Hot 100 within the top 10, Mars jumped on “APT.,” the lead single from ROSÉ’s forthcoming debut solo project — and has likely helped the BLACKPINK star score the biggest chart hit of her career so far.
The catchy, clap-along pop collaboration has been one of the biggest streaming hits in both the U.S. and the world since its release last Friday (Oct. 18): in its first four days of release, “APT.” earned 13.32 million U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate, while also topping Spotify’s global and U.S. daily streaming charts. Its daily streaming numbers also represent a positive sign for its continued momentum, as “APT.” started with 3.57 million U.S. streams on Friday, and cracked 3 million daily streams for each of the next three days, while also selling 5,700 downloads over that opening four-day period.
We’ll see how high “APT.” can bow on next week’s Hot 100, but there’s a great chance that the Mars assist will help ROSÉ score the highest-charting solo track from a member of K-pop superstars BLACKPINK; “One of the Girls,” the song from The Idol by The Weeknd, JENNIE and Lily Rose Depp, peaked at No. 51 last year, and both ROSÉ and LISA made it to No. 70 with “On the Ground” and “Rockstar,” respectively. Meanwhile, BLACKPINK’s highest-charting Hot 100 hit is their Selena Gomez collaboration “Ice Cream,” which peaked at No. 13. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Viral Dance Trend & Unofficial GloRilla Mashup Boost 16-Year-Old Beyoncé Hit
Despite being the target of a bizarre conspiracy campaign on TikTok, Beyoncé has bounced back with her latest viral hit on the platform. According to Luminate, “Diva” — a single from her Billboard 200-topping I Am… Sasha Fierce album that peaked at No. 19 on the Hot 100 in 2009 – earned over 737,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of Oct. 11-17. That marks an eye-opening 108% increase from the 354,000 streams it collected during the period of Oct. 4-10.
Beyoncé has famously updated the original music video choreography for “Diva” with each successive tour and festival appearance. She’s also kept the song current by mixing it with trending hip-hop songs ranging from Future’s “F–k Up Some Commas” to Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock.” On TikTok, a dance trend blending choreography from Queen Bey’s “Diva” renditions at Coachella 2018 and the Renaissance World Tour has gone viral, helping the song increase in streams. Donte Colley, a dancer and choreographer who went viral this year for the trend he sparked with Nicki Minaj’s “FTCU,” perfected the choreography combination and posted his original clip on Sept. 17. That clip has amassed over six million views, and a more recent video of him performing the routine (Oct. 6) has collected over 26.4 million views. Colley soundtrack his video with an unofficial mashup of “Diva” and GloRilla’s “TGIF” courtesy of DJ Jacob Dior. That TikTok sound now boasts over 64,000 posts, while the official “Diva” sound plays in over 343,000 posts.
Beyoncé may still be in her country era, but she’ll always be one of TikTok’s favorite divas. – KYLE DENIS
Start Spreading the Streams: Two New York Baseball Anthems Up Following Postseason Runs
The New York Mets’ high-octane run through the first two rounds of the MLB playoffs came to an end on Sunday night, as the Los Angeles Dodgers eliminated them in six games to move onto the World Series. It was still a highly memorable postseason for the Mets, who had previously won a thrilling back-and-forth three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers and a less-suspenseful four-game drubbing of division rivals the Philadelphia Phillies – as well as a new good-luck charm in the form of McDonald’s mascot Grimace, and a new theme song in the crowd-pleasing “OMG.”
The Latin pop banger – with a drawn-out “Oh! My! God!” chorus hook – became a Mets fan favorite (and a Billboard chart-topper) after being released in June by Candelita, artist identity of Mets shortstop José Iglesias. The defensive stalwart’s breakout hit became a clubhouse anthem for the team, as the team also brought an “OMG” sign to the clubhouse, which they would pose for photos with anytime someone on the roster hit a home run. The song went viral nationally over the course of the Mets’ postseason run, rising by 523% in official on-demand U.S. streams from 146,000 on the tracking week ending Oct. 3 to nearly 910,000 for the week ending Oct. 17, according to Luminate. (A new remix of the song featuring Pitbull and Silvestre Dangond, released Oct. 11, no doubt also helped in those rising totals.)
Those streams will likely die down in the weeks to come, following the Mets’ postseason elimination, but their Big Apple rivals in the Bronx will probably see their own longer-established singalong anthem continue to gain in the meantime. Frank Sinatra’s “Theme From ‘New York, New York,” which has served as the Yankees’ victory song for well over 40 years now, has risen 24% in streams to over 864,000 over the same two-week period. It saw an even bigger bump this past Sunday (Oct. 20), racking up 180,000 streams following the Yankees’ Cleveland Guardians-eliminating Game Five ALCS victory the night before – a 59% gain over the prior Sunday – as the Yanks head to face the Dodgers in the World Series, and more and more listeners want to be a part of it. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Goofy ‘Gilmore Girls’ Trend Lifts Decade-Old Years & Years Song
Although Years & Years has effectively morphed into a solo project for Olly Alexander, the British electropop outfit is still snagging hits. Streams for “Breathe” — a cover of the 2003 Blu Cantrell and Sean Paul hit that appears on the super deluxe edition of the band’s 2015 Communion LP – have risen by over 100% for the past three weeks. During the period of Oct. 11-17, the track earned nearly 1.4 million official on-demand U.S. streams, marking a whopping 1,603% increase from the 81,000 streams it earned during the period of Sept. 27-Oct. 3.
A Sept. 17 TikTok post laying a Gilmore Girls clip over the Years & Years track is responsible for the streaming boost. In the original clip, Kirk Gleason tells the father of his love interest, “I love your daughter.” The father then replies, “Who are you to love my daughter? What do you have to offer her?” “Nothing,” Kirk responds. “Only this.” He then breaks out into an improvised dance number soundtracked by “Breathe.” TikTok users have quickly put their own spin on the scene, with some opting to act as Kirk and show off goofy dance moves of their own. The audio from the original TikTok post, courtesy of user @clozvr, currently plays in over 145,000 clips, while another unofficial sound boasts over 39,000 posts. There are also over 210,000 posts currently attached to the official “Breathe” sound.
Years & Years have never had a Hot 100 entry, but if the streams for “Breathe” continue to increase, there’s a possibility that they will change that.
Andrew Unterberger
Billboard
