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: Kehlani eyes a big chart move thanks to a new pack of remixes, a surreal viral trend helps put a rising singer-songwriter on the streaming map, basketball’s greatest soundtrack makes a comeback and more.
Tame Impala’s ‘Dracula’ Sinks Its Teeth Into the Halloween Season
This year, Halloween fell on a weekend, meaning the partying was perhaps even a little more widespread than usual — and the songs that provide the annual soundtrack for such festivities exploded were even more explosive on streaming. On DSPs, the top-ranking songs were the usual perennial favorites, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters” and Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash” of course among them. But a little lower on those listings was another much-newer spooky-season favorite: “Dracula,” the current electro-pop breakout hit for psych-dance vets Tame Impala.
“Dracula” has already proven a chart sensation, debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 55 in October and hitting a new peak of No. 33 last month following the release of its parent album Deadbeat – his first-ever entry on the chart, since joined by two of its Deadbeat tracklist mates. It may hit a new peak on the Hot 100 on next week’s chart (dated Nov. 15), after the (loosely) vampire-themed and (vaguely) eerie-sounding track racked up over 1.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams on Oct. 31 — up 49% from the previous Friday, according to Luminate, a massive gain for a song already pulling daily streams in the seven digits.
Will the song endure to become a Halloween staple like those aforementioned proven classics? Time will tell, but early signs are encouraging for “Dracula” becoming a holiday immortal.
Toni Braxton Proves ‘Man Enough’ for a Streaming Boost, Thanks to Kayla Nicole and an Upcoming Movie
A week after throwing Kehlani an assist on “Folded,” Toni Braxton is experiencing a mini-streaming revival for one of her own hits. Thanks to a spicy Halloween costume from Kayla Nicole, Travis Kelce’s ex, and a flurry of motion from the Braxton world, streams for 2000’s “He Wasn’t Man Enough” are way up.
According to Luminate, on Oct. 31, “Man Enough” (which reached No. 2 on the Hot 100) earned 106,000 official on-demand U.S. streams. After Nicole shared her costume, which tributes the track’s sultry music video, on Halloween, the Grammy-winning song jumped 87% to over 200,000 official streams (Nov. 1). By Nov. 2, “Man Enough” leapt a further 32% to over 265,000 official streams, with the following day (Nov. 3) giving way to a 38% boost, resulting in 366,000 official streams. Over that four-day period, streams for Braxton’s smash exploded over 242%.
To her credit, Braxton also kept her name in the headlines all by her lonesome, which only further propelled “Man Enough.” On Oct. 28, New Edition confirmed it would head out on a 2026 tour alongside Braxton and Boyz II Men, by Oct. 30, all three acts performed a medley on Good Morning America, with Braxton crooning “Man Enough.” Furthermore, the latest season of The Braxtons, a reality show following Braxton and her famous family, premiered on We TV on Oct. 10, with clips quickly going viral across social media. Also on Oct. 28, Lifetime shared the first look at He Wasn’t Man Enough, an original TV movie starring and executive produced by Braxton based on her hit song.
During the first four days of the week preceding Halloween (Oct. 24-27), “Man Enough” logged over 313,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, with that number jumping just under 200% to over 938,000 official streams over the equivalent period the following week (Oct. 31-Nov. 3). In addition to its streaming boost, “Man Enough” also returned to the iTunes U.S. top 30. — KYLE DENIS
Drake and the Toronto Blue Jays: Still Definitively ‘Not Like Us’
For the second straight autumn, the Los Angeles Dodgers ended the baseball season on top of the mountain. After defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in a classic seven-game World Series — with the seventh game (on Saturday, Nov. 1) going to extra innings and ending on a bases-loaded double play — the Dodgers became the first team since the New York Yankees of 25 years earlier (’99-’00) to repeat as MLB champions.
And just like it was last year, the most frequent song of celebration for Los Angelenos was Kendrick Lamar‘s forever-triumphant, forever-sneering “Not Like Us.” The Grammy-winning, Hot 100-topping classic diss track from L.A.’s most esteemed modern hip-hop representative rang out across Southern California over the weekend, pulling a combined 1.8 million official on-demand streams across the two days (Nov. 2-3) following the Dodgers’ clinching victory — up 16% from the same period the week before, according to Luminate.
And of course, helping to make the victory and its soundtrack extra sweet: The Blue Jays’ most high-profile celebrity representative at the series was of course the 6 God himself, Kendrick’s 2024 foe Drake. The FOX network even tweeted a mocked-up photo after the game of a trophy-donning Lamar speeding away from Drake on the baseball diamond, right next to the all-caps caption, “THEY NOT LIKE US.” — A.U.
