Phoenix, Billie Eilish & More Up in Streams and Sales Following Olympics Closing Ceremonies
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: Billie Eilish sees big gains for two different songs thanks to two different live performances, Lewis Capaldi gets a big spot in the summer’s biggest romance, and Brat Summer makes room for one of the album’s big collaborators to have a hit of his own.
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Au Revoir! Olympics Closing Ceremony Boosts Phoenix, “Nightcall” & More
The closing ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics capped off a riveting two-week athletic showcase at the Stade de France on Sunday night (Aug. 11) by once again toasting this year’s host city of Paris, as well as looking ahead to the 2028 summer games in Los Angeles. As such, the ceremony combined a showcase for French indie-rock stalwarts Phoenix — who were joined onstage by Air, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig and French producer Kavinsky, among others — with performances from L.A. natives like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish and Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.
Fifteen years after breaking through with hits like “1901” and “Lisztomania,” Phoenix reintroduced themselves to the American mainstream, and received a sizable streaming bump: the band’s catalog rose 86%, to 1.12 million U.S. on-demand audio streams from Aug. 11-12 from the same two-day period the previous week (603,000 streams from Aug. 4-5), according to Luminate. Meanwhile, Kavinsky’s 2010 synthwave single “Nightcall” became a Shazam sensation after being featured in the ceremony, as the track grew 74% to 208,000 streams from Aug. 11-12, compared to 119,000 streams during Aug. 4-5.
And while West Coast anthems like RHCP’s “By the Way” and Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode” made their Olympics bows, a current smash, Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” was the greatest gainer on the sales side: the track sold 4,200 digital downloads from Aug. 11-12, after moving under 1,000 units over the same time frame the previous week (Aug. 4-5). There’s nothing quite like playing your song on the world stage to help your top 10 hit climb a few spots higher. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Lewis Capaldi ‘Ends’ Up With His Most Viral Hit in Years, Thanks to Colleen Hoover Film Adaptation
Back in 2019, the sound of Lewis Capaldi wailing about how he was getting kinda used to being someone you loved was absolutely omnipresent, as his breakout ballad “Someone You Loved” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and spread to all corners of pop culture. After scoring another top 10 hit the next year with “Before You Go,” hits have been relatively sparse for Capaldi in the U.S. But now, he’s got the most streaming momentum he’s had in several years – thanks to a movie that’s now dominating the culture the way “Someone You Loved” did a half-decade ago.
It Ends With Us, the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s wildly popular 2022 romance novel, has become an immediate box office smash, earning $50 million in its first weekend – and has also consumed discussion online, thanks to reports of drama between its star Blake Lively and director/co-star Justin Baldoni. But it’s also boosting the performance of songs across its soundtrack, by artists ranging from indie rock sensation Ethel Cain (“Strangers”) to alt-pop superstar Lana Del Rey (“Cherry”).
The biggest bump, however, has been for Capaldi’s big ballad “Love the Hell Out of You,” originally featured on his 2023 sophomore LP Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent. The song was never officially tabbed as a single, but it may be headed for belated focus-track status now that it’s been featured in Ends’ final scene and end credits. After “Love” earned under 40,000 U.S. on-demand audio streams combined from the period of Aug. 2-5, according to Luminate, that number exploded to over 675,000 for the same four-day period a week later, with the movie now in theaters – a gain of 1,620%, with the song still rising day-to-day. Seems like we might need to get kinda used to Capaldi being someone who’s unavoidable in our lives once again. – AU
Billie Eilish’s Next Big Hit? “Wildflower” Keeps Growing
Billie Eilish is enjoying a flashy week in the upper reaches of the Hot 100 chart, where “Birds of a Feather” moves up three spots to a new peak of No. 7, while her appearance on the remix of Charli xcx’s “Guess” helps the song bow at No. 12. “Birds” has been the clear breakout hit from Eilish’s third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, thus far — but lower down on the Hot 100, “Wildflower,” the moody ballad that waxes poetic about crossing lines with a friend’s ex, is making noise, and being positioned as a potential fall-time follow-up hit for Eilish.
“Wildflower” has been boosted by a live acoustic performance for Amazon Music’s Songline series, which has earned 6.4 million YouTube views since posting on July 29, and inspired plenty of TikTok analyses of Eilish’s vocal showcase in the clip (“the pain in her voice it’s CRAAAZY,” declares one user). Two weeks ago, “Wildflower” earned 6.66 million U.S. on-demand streams during the chart week ending July 25, according to Luminate; that number grew to 9.08 million streams for the week ending Aug. 9, and as such, the song has leapt from No. 77 to No. 55 on the Hot 100 in two weeks’ time. That’s still a long way away from its No. 17 peak, back when Hit Me Hard and Soft was released in May — but don’t be surprised to watch it creep up closer to that ranking over the next month or two. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
The ‘Brat’ Summer Expanded Universe Is Now Boosting The Dare’s “Girls”
Among the starrier artists involved in the recent pop culture sensation that was “Guess” remix – which of course included original performer Charli XCX and new featured guest Billie Eilish, as well as the latter’s star collaborator brother Finneas in the production credits – appeared another name that might not be as familiar to mainstream audiences. Harrison Patrick Smith, better known as electro-rocker The Dare – paragon of the modern-day New York “indie sleaze” revival – was the co-producer on the original track, and even gets a shoutout from Charli herself in the “Guess” refrain (“Wear ’em, post ’em, might remix it/ Send them to The Dare, yeah, I think he’s with it”).
Thanks to the bump in exposure from the “Guess” moment (and perhaps partly thanks to the increasing popularity of “indie sleaze”-related fan accounts on TikTok), The Dare is starting to see real movement on his underground breakout hit from 2022, “Girls.” The frisky and slightly dirtbaggy synth-rock anthem received 827,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending August, according to Luminate – a 261% gain from the 229,000 it posted two weeks before, pre-”Guess.” Indie sleaze may or may not officially be back – some say it never totally existed in the first place – but Brat Summer definitely just keeps getting bigger. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Q&A: Erika Elliott, Executive Artistic Director of SummerStage and The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, on What’s Trending Up in Her World
How did the programming of this year’s Charlie Parker Jazz Festival come together?
The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, currently in its 32nd year and a part of Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage festival, is committed to honoring uniquely New York music traditions and cultural communities. Every year, we aim to present the best jazz musicians that are masters of the genre, as well as championing the next generations of jazz artists who are creating a name for themselves in the jazz world, while keeping an eye on gender equity – all for FREE!
How does the Jazz Fest fit into the larger SummerStage planning?
Our mission at City Parks Foundation SummerStage is to celebrate the cultural communities of New York, and to connect New Yorkers to their public parks. These goals come together perfectly with The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival as the free program takes place in neighborhood parks located in Harlem and the Lower East Side. These communities fostered the growth of Jazz and were the actual communities of where Charlie Parker lived and worked. By celebrating and presenting jazz music in these neighborhoods, we are not only able to acknowledge the lasting legacy and impact of Parker, but honor the jazz roots in the NYC community.
Which trends within modern jazz are most exciting to highlight at this year’s festival?
Overall, across both SummerStage and The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, the thing I find most exciting is the interest in the genre by both young musicians and audiences. There is a global scene that is developing now within jazz, with performers such as Ezra Collective and Yussef Dayes, and in the U.S. with acts like Dana and Alden and Anessa Strings – all who were presented by us this year at SummerStage. There is so much great talent out there, but most importantly young people (folks under 30) are listening and interested in jazz!
Fill in the blank: the performers that casual jazz fans need to discover this year are:
Ekep Nkwelle, Isaiah Collier, Helen Sung Feat. Chris Potter. – J.L.
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