Yeah Yeah Yeahs Top TikTok Billboard Top 50 Again, While Akon & Aphex Twin Make Moves
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps” continues its recent dominance atop the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart, reigning for a third straight week on the Oct. 26-dated tally.
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 Oct. 14-20. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.
“Maps” – on the strength of two dominant TikTok trends, one a dance and the other using a filter to remove one’s facial features (more on that here) – and Alphaville’s “Forever Young” remain at Nos. 1 and 2; “Forever Young” is a previous No. 1 on the chart, having ruled the Oct. 5 survey, and the song hasn’t been below the top three since September.
Despite the stagnant top two, there’s movement elsewhere in the top 10, paced by Akon’s “Akon’s Beautiful Day,” which zooms 8-3 in its second week on the chart.
Initially, the top clips using the song were from Akon himself, but the tune – released Oct. 4 after being teased on the platform previously – has since spread to hundreds of thousands of usages by other creators, ranging from sports-related videos, uploads about positivity and friendship, general-topic content and more.
Concurrently, “Akon’s Beautiful Day” debuts at No. 31 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart. In the week ending Oct. 17, it earned 448,000 official U.S. streams, up 25%, according to Luminate.
It’s followed on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 by Aphex Twin’s “QKThr,” which completes a 19-week rise to the top 10 with an 11-4 bump. That’s the lengthiest amount of time from debut week to first time in the top 10 since the chart began in September 2023, eclipsing the 15 weeks Billie Eilish’s “Wildflower” took before hitting No. 7 last month.
“QKThr” debuted at No. 13 on the Feb. 10-dated list and bounced around the chart for five weeks before falling off, returning for its current run in July. Released in 2001 as part of Aphex Twin’s album Drukqs, its latest rise is tied to the “subtle foreshadowing” trend where users post clips of misfortune with what’s to come stitched in throughout the video.
FloyyMenor’s “Peligrosa” also reaches a new peak, moving 9-6. It’s his second top 10 on the chart, following the No. 5 peak of “Gata Only,” alongside Cris Mj, in April.
“Peligrosa,” which has risen as high as No. 19 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart earlier this month after being released in July, benefits from a dance trend alongside other high-performing uploads. It earned 2.8 million streams in the week ending Oct. 17.
The TikTok Billboard Top 50’s top 10 also sports a debut within its confines: Vines’ “Being Loved Isn’t the Same As Being Understood,” which bows at No. 8. Premiered in March, the song has exploded in popularity on TikTok due to a trend that’s usually presented as a photo collage meant to “sum up” the person represented, whether it’s themselves, a family member or a friend.
Though it’s not a 19-week trip like “QKThr,” Gigi Perez’s “Sailor Song” also completes a lengthy run to the top 10, jumping 24-10 in its ninth week on the chart. A variety of high-performing videos following loosely related trends, including one where people surprise their long-distance significant others in person.
“Sailor Song” rises to a new peak of No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, jumping 13% in streams to 13 million in the week ending Oct. 17.
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
