Lola Young’s ‘Messy’ Surges in Sales and Streams Following ‘Fallon’ Appearance
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: Lola Young’s breakout hit keeps on breaking in the U.S., Timothée Chalamet’s turn pulling SNL double-duty helps shine a light on some lesser-streamed Bob Dylan cuts and a Lil Wayne and Drake favorite from a decade ago finds new TikTok virality.
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Lola Young Gets “Messy” on Late Night, Breakthrough Single Surges in Streams & Sales
U.K. alt-pop/rock sensation Lola Young made her debut on stateside TV last week on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, with both a performance of her breakthrough hit “Messy” and an interview with Fallon. Young captivated viewers with her unpolished energy, cheeky humor and thick accent – and of course, with one of the best hits of the past few months, an anthem of frustrated individualism that had reaches a new No. 25 high on the Billboard Hot 100 this week (on the chart dated Feb. 1), following her performance last Tuesday (Jan. 21).
The song should climb even higher next week, as “Messy” has hit new peaks on streaming and sales following her high-profile Fallon appearance. The song has racked up 8.8 million official on-demand streams across the first four days of this tracking week – a gain of 30% from the same period the previous week, according to Luminate – while also moving 4,800 copies through digital sales, a 119% gain from the week before. “Messy” has been in the No. 1 spot on the real-time iTunes chart for most of the week, suggesting that a lot of folks in this country are connecting with its “I just want to be me/ Is that not allowed?” sentiment these days. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Timmy Plays Twice, It’s Alright: Chalamet Boosts Bob Songs on ‘SNL’
A few weeks ago, we wrote about how Bob Dylan’s streaming catalog, including some of the most iconic hits of his early discography, had skyrocketed thanks to A Complete Unknown, the new Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet. Since then, the James Mangold-directed film has scored eight Oscar nominations (including Chalamet’s second Best Actor nod), and Chalamet served as both the host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live on Jan. 25, where he covered some relatively lesser-known Dylan songs: “Outlaw Blues” and “Three Angels” as a medley, and “Tomorrow is a Long Time.”
Naturally, streams for those three Dylan songs exploded following the SNL performances, growing an even greater percentage than the legendary tracks receiving upticks from the film. “Tomorrow is a Long Time” leapt from 4,000 official U.S. on-demand streams over the previous Sunday and Monday (Jan. 19-20) to 52,000 streams from Jan. 26-27 — a 1100% bump, according to Luminate. Meanwhile, “Outlaw Blues” and “Three Angels” were up to 45,000 streams and 30,000 streams over the more recent two-day period, respectively. All told, the three songs grew from a little over 9,000 streams from Jan. 19-20 to a whopping 128,000 streams one week later. Maybe Chalamet can help out some more Dylan deep cuts with an Oscars performance? – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Lil Wayne and Drake Strip Club Anthem Becomes TikTok Wall Dance Trend
TikTok certainly loves a wall-dance trend. One of the latest songs that has countless users backing it up against the wall is “She Will,” the Drake-featuring smash from Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV album that reached the Hot 100’s top five back in 2011. The clip from the song used for these videos is triggered by Wayne’s “Ladies and gentlemen, Drizzy” welcoming of his co-star, followed by Drake’s own introductory “Unh” grunt – but then the vocals cut out for a Jersey clubbier remix of the song’s strip club-ready beat to soundtrack users’ wall-bound gyrations.
The challenge has become a big-enough TikTok trend to help drive consumption of the song back to some of its highest levels since its original release. “She Will” was up to 3.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams the past tracking week (ending Jan. 23), according to Luminate, part of a steady climb that’s seen the song rise 65% from 2.3 million streams it posted five weeks earlier. Lil Wayne might not have gotten the career-capping hometown gig he might have really wanted for this early year – though we’re still holding out hope he makes some kind of appearance at the Superdome on Feb. 9 – but his back catalog remains forever present in the culture regardless. – AU
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