Alphaville’s ‘Forever Young’ Rides Nostalgia Wave to TikTok Billboard Top 50 No. 1
Three decades after its original run on the Billboard Hot 100, Alphaville’s “Forever Young” is No. 1 on a Billboard chart, reigning over the TikTok Billboard Top 50 tally dated Oct. 5.
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 Sept. 23-29. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.
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“Forever Young” sported its original Hot 100 run over a three-week period in spring 1985, during which it peaked at No. 93. It returned to the ranking in 1988-89 following a re-release, rising as high as No. 65 in December 1988. 2024 marks the song’s 40-year anniversary, as it was released on Alphaville’s self-titled debut album in September 1984.
Alphaville has reigned on a Billboard chart once before; “Big in Japan” topped Dance Club Songs for two weeks in 1984.
“Forever Young” ties Jordan Adetunji’s “Kehlani” for the longest amount of weeks between TikTok Billboard Top 50 debut and first week at No. 1 since the list’s September 2023 inception. It reigns in its 10th week on the survey after initially debuting on the Aug. 3 ranking. It had reached a new peak of No. 2 on the Sept. 28 chart.
The song is used in a variety of ways on TikTok. Trends include edits of fictional characters (many of whom died young), inward-looking content about aging and reminiscing about younger days, a choreographed theme where one creator picks up the other and spins them around while spraying a water bottle in slow motion, and more.
Over the last few weeks, “Forever Young” has also returned to Billboard’s Alternative Digital Song Sales charts thanks to the TikTok resurgence; it appears at No. 10 on the latest survey via 1,000 downloads in the week ending Sept. 26, according to Luminate. It also pulled 2.1 million official U.S. streams in that span.
The TikTok Billboard Top 50 coronation of “Forever Young” comes ahead of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter’s “By the Sea,” from the soundtrack to the 2007 film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which vaults 32-2 in its second week on the chart.
The trend on the 17-year-old song? Generally lip-synching to the song’s opening “Ooh, Mr. Todd/ I’m so happy/ I could eat you up, I really could” lyric, while others skip the lip-synching and simply kiss someone or something to Bonham-Carter’s cues from the tune.
Another debut from the Sept. 28 chart, NLE Choppa and 41‘s “Or What,” ranks within the top three for the first time, jumping 44-3, mostly via lip-synching uploads. The song was released Sept. 6 and earned 3.2 million streams in the week ending Sept. 26, up 73%.
Odetari’s “Keep Up” (No. 14), leaps into the top four, rising 14-4 in its second week on the list. It ties Odetari’s top-performing song on the tally, equaling the No. 4 peak of “I Love You Hoe,” co-billed with 9Lives, in September 2023.
Released in mid-July, “Keep Up” has exploded in recent weeks thanks to a dance trend. It concurrently hits a new peak of No. 6 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, accumulating 5.8 million streams, up 39%, as the ranking’s greatest gainer in that metric.
IV of Spades’ “Come Inside of My Heart,” the previous No. 3 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, rounds out the top five, while Ken Carson’s “Overseas” jumps 23-6 in its second week, nearly six months after its April release.
Carson’s TikTok success with “Overseas” is owed mostly to lip synchs, usually to the song’s lyric of “That boy repeat everything he hear like a parrot, he a b–ch/ The last b–ch I broke up with slit her wrist.”
“Overseas” earned 3.2 million streams in the week ending Sept. 26, a gain of 7%.
Two more songs hit the top 10 of the TikTok Billboard Top 50 for the first time: Freak Nasty’s “Da’ Dip” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Deja Vu” at Nos. 7-9, respectively. “Or What” is led by lip synchs and “Da’ Dip” by a dance trend (notable since the song, which peaked on the Hot 100 at No. 15 in 1997, is inherently named for a dance), while “Deja Vu” gains from the “and suddenly” trend.
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.
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