Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, 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: The Big Game leads to big gains for country Beyoncé, Usher’s (faux-)lovers and friends and a Whitney classic, while Aimee Carty gets an unexpected lift from the college basketball world, and much more.

BeyHive Re-Learns Past Country ‘Lessons’ Following New Single Releases

When Beyoncé unexpectedly returned on Sunday night (Feb. 11) by surprise-releasing two new singles, “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages,” during the Super Bowl, fans were greeted with a pair of country music tracks that seemingly preview the cowboy-hat nature of her upcoming album, Act II. However, longtime Bey fans were quick to point out that the new songs were not, of course, not Beyoncé first country music foray — after all, 2016’s Lemonade was highlighted by “Daddy Lessons,” a rip-roaring jamboree that eventually received a remix and CMA Awards performance with the Chicks.

As both “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages” get off to hot starts — on their first full day on streaming services, the tracks respectively earned 4.32 million and 2.66 million U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate — fans have also returned to “Daddy Lessons” and helped the nearly eight-year-old track receive new life. On Feb. 12, the song earned 160,000 streams, up a whopping 370% from the previous Monday (34,000 streams). We’ll find out on Mar. 29 how much of Act II actually resembles the sonic makeup of “Daddy Lessons,” but until then, expect its streams to stay elevated as fans prepare for Queen Bey’s country era. — JASON LIPSHUTZ

Alicia Keys & Lil Jon Hits Also Boosted by Usher-Headlined Halftime

Usher’s well-received and widely viewed – like, 129-million-plus wide – halftime show at Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday night (Feb. 11) has of course had a profound effect on consumption of the R&B superstar’s back catalog. We’ll have exact numbers on Mr. Raymond’s post-SB stats to come later on Billboard, but suffice to say he is up fairly dramatically in song sales and streams following his performance, with classics like “Yeah!” and “My Boo” even threatening Billboard Hot 100 re-entrances next week. But he’s not the only artist seeing gains from the halftime extravaganza. 

Alicia Keys, who joined the set primarily to display her vocal and on-stage chemistry with her old duet partner on “My Boo,” also offered a chorus of her own solo 2004 smash ballad “If I Ain’t Got You,” with Usher joining in harmonies at the end. The song consequently racked up 889,000 official on-demand U.S. streams over that Sunday and the following Monday – up nearly 59% from the 560,000 streams it posted over the equivalent two-day period the prior week, according to Luminate. The song also grew in digital sales over the same period, from a negligible amount to nearly 700 copies. (We’ll have to wait to see what impact Keys’ “Got You” performance going viral on Tuesday for less-than-desirable reasons will have on its consumption the rest of the week.) 

Meanwhile, Usher’s “Yeah!” collaborator Lil Jon also got his own spotlight moment before being joined by the set’s headliner, leading the crowd in shouts of the timeless refrain to his and DJ Snake’s club perennial, “Turn Down for What.” The song rose 83% in streams from Feb. 5-6 (217,000) to Feb. 12-13 (398,000) and saw an even more pronounced rise in sales, going from a negligible amount to over 1,000 copies. Former Usher collaborators from Gucci Mane to Ella Mai are probably looking at those numbers this week wondering what they gotta do to get the call next time. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Super Bowl ‘Wicked’ Trailer Starring Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo Spurs Soundtrack Streaming Gains 

During the first batch of Super Bowl commercials on Sunday night (Feb. 11), viewers were treated to the first look at Wicked – the forthcoming Jon M. Chu-helmed movie musical based on the fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history. The new film adaptation of the story of Elphaba (Erivo) and Galinda (Grande) hits theaters on Nov. 27, 2024, but fans are already flocking to the existing Broadway cast soundtracks to feed their anticipation. 

On the Monday preceding the Super Bowl (Feb. 5), the official combined tally for songs on the original 2003 Wicked cast recording and the 15th anniversary 2018 edition clocked in at 365,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. By the Monday following the Big Game (Feb. 12), that number rose by a whopping 93.6% to 705,000 official on-demand streams. Expect those numbers to continue trending up as the trailer continues to make the rounds in the months leading up to the film’s theatrical release. With Erivo’s take on the “Defying Gravity” riff already going viral, and Grande’s imminent Eternal Sunshine album poised to make a sizable splash, all eyes are on the Wicked ladies as Thanksgiving 2024 draws nearer. – KYLE DENIS

Old Kanye West Song Benefits From Being Sampled on New Kanye West Song

“Hell of a Life” was not supposed to appear in sampled form on “Carnival,” the breakout track from Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s new collaborative project Vultures 1: a live version of Black Sabbath’s iconic “Iron Man” riff was originally supposed to be lifted into the song, but Ozzy Osbourne refused to clear the sample and sent West a very public cease-and-desist. The fuzzed-out riff from “Hell of a Life,” an album cut from West’s iconic 2010 LP My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, turned into Plan B, and as “Carnival” continues gobbling up streams, “Hell of a Life” has earned a bit of a resurgence as well.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week (Feb. 12-13), “Hell of a Life” earned 96,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, a 54% spike from the same period during the previous week, according to Luminate. Of course, that total pales in comparison to that of “Carnival,” which earned 10.9 million streams between Sunday and Tuesday, and remains entrenched atop daily U.S. streaming charts. Maybe West will sample “Carnival” for a song on Vultures II and create a trickle-down effect on his streaming catalog. – JL

Duke Star Jared McCain’s TikToks Make a Streaming Smash Out of “2 Days Into College”  

Before his fiery first year at Cameron Indoor Stadium alongside his fellow Blue Devils on Duke University’s men’s basketball team, Jared McCain was a TikTok favorite. Now a key player on one of the most popular college sports teams in the country, McCain boasts over 2.4 million followers on TikTok – and his massive audience on the platform has helped turn Irish singer-songwriter Aimee Carty’s “2 Days Into College” into a verifiable streaming hit. 

According to Luminate, “2 Days Into College” earned a little over 50,000 official on-demand streams during the period of Jan. 18-25. Over the next week (Jan. 26-Feb. 1), that number exploded by a mind-boggling 4,319% to 2.23 million on-demand streams. Over Feb. 2-8, streams again improved by a further 101%, good enough for just under 4.5 million on-demand streams. McCain first used the song on TikTok in a Jan. 25 post captioned, “Post workout jingles [Aimee Carty] was elite with this.” The post currently holds over 1.1 million likes and 9 million views, while the clip’s official sound features McCain’s very own a cappella cover of the song. Five days later he posted another clip – soundtracked by a mashup of his cover and Carty’s original track – that garnered one million likes and 10.2 million views. Feb. 2 brought yet another TikTok with the mashup playing in the background, and by Feb. 7, McCain was posting TikToks to a Jersey club remix of “2 Days Into College.” 

That remix – created by TikTok user @prodbyraesam (Feb. 3) — currently boasts over 12,800 posts on TikTok, while an official sound for Carty’s song is not currently available on the platform. Nonetheless, Carty’s Dec. 6, 2023, TikTok previewing “College” has collected 4.1 million likes and 28 million views to date. The fast-rising singer-songwriter has even acknowledged McCain’s impact on the song’s success, dueting one of his TikToks to the tune of 3.7 million views and 361,400 likes. 

As of Feb. 10, “2 Days Into College” is officially Aimee Carty’s Billboard chart debut. The song debuted at No. 22 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 (chart dated Feb. 10) and at No. 5 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 (dated Feb. 17). Carty also makes her first appearance on the Feb. 17 Emerging Artists chart, at No. 32. — KD

Season’s Gainings: Fans Will Always Love Whitney’s National Anthem on Super Bowl Sunday

Reba McEntire’s “Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl LVIIII: pretty good! No complaints. But as far as all-time versions of the anthem go, it’s entirely likely that none at the Big Game will ever touch Whitney Houston’s XXV rendition in 1991, a version mighty enough to lift the nation’s Gulf War-era spirits and chart on the Hot 100 multiple times. Also one good enough for fans to play annually on (or after) Super Bowl Sunday: Houston’s rendition racked up 14,000 combined official on-demand U.S. streams over Feb. 12-13, a 52% gain from the equivalent period the week before that, according to Luminate. – AU