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: A number of up-and-coming rappers featured on the late year’s biggest rap release get bumps for their own catalogs, an old emo song becomes a seasonal-sadness singalong and much more.

L.A. Rappers’ Catalogs Rise Following Major Looks on Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’ 

Kendrick Lamar’s GNX has already collected impressive wins on the Billboard 200 and Hot 100, but the Compton MC’s surprise album is also helping boost the catalog of its featured L.A. rappers. 

“TV Off” blasted in at No. 2 on the Hot 100 (dated Dec. 7), making it the highest-ranking GNX collaboration. Baldwin Park emcee Lefty Gunplay is the guest on that track (“S–t get crazy, scary, spooky, hilarious!), and his own new project, Most Valuable Gangbanger (Nov. 22), ironically coincided with the GNX drop. Thanks to his own new release and the explosive immediate interest in “TV Off,” Lefty’s catalog has spiked 84% in official on-demand U.S. streams the week of GNX’s release (Nov. 22-28) versus the week prior (Nov. 15-21), according to Luminate. In the week following the release of Most Valuable Gangbanger and GNX, Lefty Gunplay’s catalog earned just over 468,000 streams. 

The Dody6-assisted “Hey Now” (No. 5), is the other GNX Hot 100 top five hit to feature an L.A. rapper. His appearance on GNX follows a joint project with T.0wee called Make Vernon Great Again from earlier this year. In the week following GNX’s release, streaming activity for Dody’s catalog jumped over 110%, collecting over 336,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. AzChike, who guested on ScHoolboy Q’s Blue Lips back in March, lent his talents to “Peekaboo,” which debuted at No. 13 on the Hot 100. In the week following GNX’s release, AzChike’s catalog pulled in over 916,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, marking a 15% lift in streaming activity. 

The GNX title track entered the Hot 100 at No. 24 and features Hitta J3, YoungThreat & Peysoh. Notably, Hitta J3 and Kendrick joined forces back in 2014 alongside YG and Problem (now known as JasonMartin) for the “Do Yo Gudda” remix. Following GNX’s release (Nov. 22-28), Hitta J3’s catalog earned just under 30,000 official on-demand U.S. streams – a whopping 149% increase from the 11,700 streams it collected the week prior. – KYLE DENIS

Mom Jeans Squeezes in a Sentimental Pre-Holidays Viral Hit

Everyone gets a little emotional around Thanksgiving time, right? There’s a lot of family, a lot of old memories, a lot of homesickness for those who can’t get away from their usual lives, maybe a reunion or two for those who can… Maybe that partly explains the timing of Midwest emo band Mom Jeans seeing its acoustic ballad “Scott Pilgrim vs. My GPA,” from 2016’s Best Buds, unexpectedly become one of the hottest songs on TikTok, for a section with the brutal lyrics, “Don’t go back to our old place/ It’s probably locked up anyway/ I bet it still looks the same as when I ran away that day.” 

The sound has of course been used by any number of users for emotional lip synch moments over the past few weeks – but it’s also been adapted as a go-to soundtrack for popular nostalgic and/or tear-jerking edits of football and wrestling stars. Consequently, the song debuts at No. 46 on this week’s TikTok Top 50, and has been exploding on streaming services, with the song racking up 2.3 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending Nov. 28, according to Luminate – a whopping 1,282% gain from the 165,000 streams it posted three weeks earlier. If TikTok users haven’t worked out their baggage by the holidays, look out – we could see “Scott Pilgrim” elbowing its way in there with all the Bing Crosby and Perry Como. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Twerking Trend Helps E.K.E. Earn Viral Hit 

Ever the reliable needle-mover, a twerk-centric dance trend has helped an Akon-nodding track explode at streaming this month. 

On Nov. 8, TikTok creator @mora2767 posted a dance sequence – featuring lots of twerking and trademark Cali moves – to the tune of E.K.E.’s “Ghetto,” which incorporated elements from the intro of Akon’s 2005 song of the same name. In the week following that video’s initial upload – it has since garnered over 2.4 million views – E.K.E.’s “Ghetto” earned 137,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. That figure leapt but an astounding 711% to over 1.11 million streams the following week since the trend took off on TikTok. The next week, streams increased a further 43% to over streams during Nov. 22-28. Over the past two weeks, streams for “Ghetto” have risen over 1,065%. 

The official TikTok sound for “Ghetto” now boasts over 157,000 posts, including one from E.K.E. himself. Back in September, about a month after the song was released (Aug. 2), E.K.E. posted a TikTok attempting to jumpstart his own dance trend for “Ghetto.” While his trend wasn’t the one to take off, his head was always in the right place. 

Already off to a No. 14 start on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, expect “Ghetto” to continue rising in the weeks to come. – KD

NLE Choppa’s Latest Horny Hit Finds Its Way to the Hot 100

It’s been a pretty crazy year for NLE Choppa, who has reworked his now-signature hit “Slut Me Out” into multiple sequel incarnations, scored a breakout hit alongside New York crew 41 with the blaring “Or What,” and released one of the wildest short films you’ll see outside of the festival circuit in 2024 with NLE Choppa: The Wash. Now, he’s back with a new single that might be on its way to being his most viral non-collab hit of 2024: the characteristically horny “Gang Baby.” 

The new hit, which features the repeat chorus lyric “Let me f–k somethin’” and shows NLE Choppa surrounded by a circle of twerking behinds in the video, has been absolutely exploding on streaming lately, thanks to a dance challenge and other edits that have helped the song become a major TikTok hit, many of which used a slightly sped-up version of the song. After growing 267% in official on-demand U.S. streams over the past five weeks – to 5.7 million official streams for the week ending Nov. 28 – it has now also punctured the Hot 100, reaching No. 98. Clearly, we all observe cuffing season in our own ways. – AU