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: Spider-Man: Brand New Day songs new and old experience huge gains, while ADÉLA takes another step towards stardom, U.S. listeners mourn a couple sadly passed European artists and more.
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‘Brand New’ Streaming Gains for Tame Impala, Steve Lacy Songs in New ‘Spider-Man’ Movie
It was a blockbuster opening beyond all other blockbuster opening for Spider-Man: Brand New Day over the weekend. The fourth film about the superhero as part of the extended Marvel Cinematic Universe, led by the now-married real-life couple Tom Holland and Zendaya, debuted to over $360 million in domestic box office returns in its first weekend, topping 2019’s Avengers: Endgame for the biggest opening weekend in U.S. history.
Unsurprisingly for such a widely watched movie — with a fairly diverse soundtrack of classic hits and underground staples, with a couple modern favorites mixed in —the streaming gains for its most prominently featured songs have been similarly robust. Each of the older songs featured in the film (from iconic artists as far-flung as Chaka Khan and Brian Eno) have seen increased streams, with the biggest catalog beneficiary undoubtedly being TV on the Radio’s “Wolf Like Me,” featured in the film’s opening montage. The ‘00s indie standard-bearer racked up over 550,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the film’s first four days of release (July 31-Aug. 3), according to Luminate —a 353% gain over its total from the prior Friday-to-Monday period.
But the biggest winners overall from the soundtrack are likely its two most contemporary hitmakers: Steve Lacy and Tame Impala. Lacy’s “Oh Yeah?,” which debuted on his parent album of the same name two weeks earlier featured over the film’s end credits, rose 181% to nearly 2.5 million streams over the same four-day period. Meanwhile, Tame’s “Loser,” from the artist born Kevin Parker’s polarizing 2025 album Deadbeat, skyrocketed a jaw-dropping 838% to over 2.6 million streams in the movie’s first four days.
As Brand New Home keeps on raking in the millions, expect the soundtrack cuts to continue to make their presence felt —and possibly make a visit to the Hot 100, the first for “Loser” since it debuted at No. 91 in November, and the first of any kind for “Oh Yeah?” – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
ADÉLA Levels Up With Fast-Rising New Single “Ain’t in L.A.”
Dream Academy alum and rising pop star ADÉLA has been steadily building buzz over the past year with a string of pithy, punchy singles and acclaimed live shows. Now, she’s eyeing her first proper streaming hit with her newly released “Ain’t in L.A.,” single which dropped on July 23.
According to Luminate, “Ain’t in L.A.” earned over 1.74 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the four-day period of July 24-27. A week later (July 31-Aug. 3), that number leapt 34.7% to over 2.35 million official on-demand U.S. streams. Over on TikTok, the song’s official sound plays in over 280,000 posts, while its official music video has collected over three million views in just under two weeks. “Ain’t in L.A.” also features in over 12,000 Instagram Reels.
The song’s hefty debut was buoyed by both ADÉLA’s overall momentum and her steady, months-long teasing of the soaring synth-pop track. During her opening stint on Demi Lovato’s arena-headlining It’s Not That Deep Tour, ADÉLA performed several new tracks, including “Ain’t in L.A.” — and over the weekend (Aug. 2) the song was a standout moment in her Lollapalooza debut.
With the song’s barre choreography frequently going viral and the overlooked-but-mighty cohort of “small town baddies” continuing to rally around the song’s rejection of Los Angeles exceptionalism (ambition lives everywhere!), expect “Ain’t in L.A.” to continue scaling the charts. — KYLE DENIS
Streaming Audiences Mourn Glen Hansard and Kavinsky
Two very different cult-favorite European artists died very unexpectedly last week, with news of both deaths emerging early on Wednesday (July 29). Glen Hansard, the Irish singer-songwriter who first came to national prominence as leader of The Frames at the turn of the century before earning global notice with his starring role in 2006’s musical drama Once, died in a motorcycle crash at age 56. And Kavinsky, the French house DJ/producer known to international audiences for his work on the soundtrack to the 2011 thriller Drive and his performance at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, was found dead at his home at 50, with his exact cause of death still pending.
Both artists experienced a posthumous boom in streams immediately following their passing. Hansard’s solo catalog racked up over 4.1 million official on-demand streams in the five days after his death (July 29-Aug. 2), a 2,221% gain over the 177,000 streams he amassed in the same five-day period a week before. (“Falling Slowly,” Hansard’s signature Oscar-winning hit alongside co-star and partner Marketá Irglová, was the biggest beneficiary, gaining 1,025% to 713,000 streams.) And The Frames also saw a major boost, totaling 570,000 streams over the five-day period after just 14,000 a week before, a gain of 3,903%.
And Kavinsky also saw an enormous rise in streams over the same period, with his catalogue rising 348% to nearly 3 million streams for the five-day span. The biggest chunk of that of course belonged to “Nightcall” — the nocturnal Drive anthem that the DJ/producer played at the Olympics, and which Billboard named the No. 6 Greatest Dance Song of the 2010s in 2019 —which was up 256% to 1.4 million streams. – AU
Dolly Babe Turns Viral TikTok Sound Into Streaming Hit With “Pink Blush”
After flipping Beyoncé’s classic “Diva” into a viral TikTok sound last summer, Dallas rapper Dolly Babe has landed herself a legitimate streaming hit with “Pink Blush.” Trading on her bubbly, tongue-in-cheek delivery, onomatopoeia-laden bars and Danielwsp’s crisp production, “Pink Blush” has quickly grown into TikTok’s favorite audio of late.
The most recent trend tied to the song finds a group of friends or colleagues — normally all men — seductively lip-syncing Dolly Babe’s cunnilingus-exalting post-chorus as a camera pans around the circle. Whether you’re a multi-generational content creator family, an HVAC crew or a group of mechanics, “Pink Blush” is for everybody!
During the week of July 17-23, “Pink Blush” earned 57,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. By the following week (July 24-30), that figure exploded by a massive 1,166% to over 731,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. More recently, during the four-day period of July 31-Aug. 3, “Pink” collected just under 790,000 official streams, up 188% from the 273,000 streams it logged the week prior (July 24-27). On TikTok, “Pink Blush” plays in over 839,000 posts, while a From the Block live performance video of the song has earned over 187,000 views in just eight days. “Pink Blush” also features in over 10,000 Instagram Reels.
With celebrities from Chlöe Bailey to Shenseea showing love to the song, it looks like “Pink Blush” is just getting started. — KD
