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: Neil Sedaka’s streams are up over 700% following the pop-rock great’s death, while a decade-old hip-hop hit finds renewed life and a deep cut from nearly half a century ago becomes a prog-pop artist’s posthumous breakthrough hit.
Trending Up Is Hard to Do: Neil Sedaka Streams Up 700% Following Legendary Pop Singer-Songwriter’s Death at 87
Neil Sedaka died at age 87 last Friday (Feb. 27), as announced by a family statement posted to Sedaka’s Instagram account. Sedaka was responsible for three Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits over his decades-spanning career — and co-wrote a fourth — and was responsible for dozens of additional hits from the late ‘50s to the early ‘80s, for both himself and other artists.
Following his death, fans of Sedaka — and ‘60s and ‘70s pop in general — swarmed streaming services to pay tribute to the late idol. His catalog totaled 2.4 million official on-demand U.S. streams in the first four days of this tracking week (Feb. 27-Mar. 2), according to early data provided by Luminate — up 708% from the same period the prior week. (It also posted nearly 8,000 digital song sales over that period, after a negligible amount the prior week.)
The songs that led the way from his catalog over this period were three of his signature hits: “Laughter in the Rain” (up 505% in streams to 514,000), “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” (up 453% to 307,000) and “Calendar Girl” (up 519% to 212,000). In addition, The Captain and Tennille’s Sedaka-co-penned “Love Will Keep Us Together” got a more modest 15% bump to 137,000 streams, while Sedaka’s original “Love” was up a whopping 1,811% to 55,000 streams.
Sedaka was laid to rest earlier this week. His family announcement referred to the late great as “a true rock n’ roll legend, an inspiration to millions, but most importantly, at least to those of us who were lucky enough to know him, an incredible human being who will be deeply missed.” – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Multi-Generational Rap Samples Led by XXXTENTACION and Toppoppgen Revive Yuna’s “Someone Out of Town”
Malaysian singer-songwriter Yuna has been giving the world gorgeous R&B music for over a decade now, and thanks to nifty flips in hip-hop tracks from rising star Toppoppgen and the late XXXTENTATCION, a new generation of fans is discovering it.
An ascendant rapper from North Carolina, Toppoppgen (born Genesis Kaliel Roland) shared his second full-length release, Kalon, last October after signing to Columbia via Signal Records in spring 2025. “Numb,” the set’s breakout track, flips XXXTentacion’s “Let’s Pretend We’re Numb,” a 2015 standalone single from the deceased Florida MC — which, in turn, samples Yuna’s “Someone Out of Town,” a track from her 2011 Decorate EP. Initial interest in the track was a part of Toppoppgen’s general buzz as one of the internet’s favorite current underground artists, but the emotional weight of his lyrics (which trade on the same sentiments as Yuna’s “original”) quickly won over fans on a much larger scale. The official “Numb” TikTok sound currently plays in 32,000 posts. According to Luminate, “Numb” has leapt 71% in official on-demand U.S. streams over the past three months, going from 643,000 official streams (Nov. 21-27) to 1.1 million official streams (Feb. 20-26).
Given that Toppoppgen is a direct musical and aesthetic descendant of XXXTentacion, fans naturally brought the latter’s “Let’s Pretend” back into rotation as “Numb” dominated their For You feeds. “Let’s Pretend” jumped 23% in official on-demand U.S. streams over the past three months, going from 316,000 official streams (Nov. 21-27) to 389,000 official streams (Feb. 20-26). The official corresponding TikTok sound can also be heard in over 51,000 videos.
Of course, this all goes back to Yuna’s “Someone Out of Town,” which has exploded 3,820% in official U.S. streaming activity over the past three months, flying from 65,000 official weekly streams (Nov. 21-27) to a whopping 2.57 million (Feb. 20-26). On TikTok, the official “Someone” sound plays in over 635,000 videos, most tied to the song’s second verse.
15 years later, Yuna’s poignant songwriting and lush voice are still cutting through the noise. – KYLE DENIS
A TikTok Rainbow Connection: Deep Cut From ‘70s Prog-Pop Rocker Goes Viral
This week’s evidence that you truly never know where hit songs are going to come from in the mid-2020s comes from Chris Rainbow, a Scottish purveyor of proggy pop-rock likely best known in the U.S. for his long association with ‘70s and ‘80s hitmakers The Alan Parsons Project. Despite never having a hit of any real size on his own in the U.S., he makes his solo bow on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart this week, thanks to the TikTok revival of his 1979 gem “Be Like a Woman.”
The song has taken off on the viral platform for its near-proto-chillwave sound, which has allowed it to become a soundtrack to a wide variety of videos — including one following a trend of users posting photos of a large number of used glasses or candles, with phrases of things they enthusiastically consume posted over each of them. Consequently, “Woman” has also crossed over to streaming services, rising from just over 18,000 weekly official on-demand streams back in November to 66,000 in the final full chart week of 2025, according to Luminate — and then exploding over early 2026 to just over 2.5 million for the week ending Feb. 26, a gain of 13,538% from three months earlier.
That most recent streaming week was enough to send the song onto Hot Rock Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, where it debuted at No. 18 and No. 22 (respectively) for the charts dated Feb. 28 — the first appearances on a Billboard chart for Rainbow, who died at age 68 in 2015. – AU
As 2016 Returns to the Spotlight, Janelle Monáe & Jidenna’s 2015 Collab Also Gets Some Shine
Where there’s a new trending TikTok sound, a Zeddy Will video won’t be too far behind. “Yoga,” a 2015 collaboration between Jidenna and Janelle Monáe, is surging across socials, thanks to an infectious clip the content creator and rapper shared to his TikTok page on Feb. 23. Featuring his trademark animated dance moves and a snippet of what seems to be a forthcoming proper remix, the post quickly went viral, garnering over 22 million views and 4.3 million likes.
Even before Zeddy’s post, TikTok users @/jmuppie._ and @/cmupp1e_ shared a dance trend on Feb. 8 (set to a mashup of “Yoga” and “Cotton Eye Joe”), which has since collected nearly 10 million views and over 775,000 likes. Between a whole new generation of listeners encountering the song for the first time — as well as the dance trend and general nostalgia for 2016-era media — “Yoga” has completely taken over TikTok. Zeddy Will’s unofficial sound plays in nearly 30,000 posts, while the official “Yoga” sound can be heard in over 173,000 clips.
Over the past three weeks, “Yoga” jumped over 583% in streaming activity, according to Luminate. During the period of Feb. 13-19, the first full week after the dance hit the timeline, “Yoga” earned over 235,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, up 67% from the week before. During the period of Feb. 27-March 2, the first weekend-ish period following Zeddy Will’s clip, “Yoga” pulled in over 587,000 official streams, up over 141% from the period of Feb. 20-23.
Originally a No. 79 Hot 100 hit, “Yoga” could very well be on its way to a full-scale resurgence this year. – K.D.
