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: The big winners in the music categories at this year’s Oscars see gains for their victorious works, while an already-minted Tame Impala hit gets new life through a viral remix with a K-pop co-star and an ’00s dance hit goes global for a second time.

‘Sinners’ & ‘Kpop Demon Hunters’ Turn Oscar Wins into Streaming and Sales Gains 

On Sunday night (March 15), Ryan Coogler’s Sinners took home four Academy Awards, including a third best original score statuette for composer Ludwig Göransson. “Golden,” the Billboard Hot 100-topping Kpop Demon Hunters smash, added a best original song Oscar to its lengthy list of accolades, marking the first time a K-pop song has received such an honor. 

To top it all off, this year’s Oscars telecast featured live performances of the music from both films. While EJAE, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna (the singing voices of HUNTR/X) brought light sticks to the Dolby Theatre, Sinners star Miles Caton led a star-studded ensemble in a reimagining of the horror film’s iconic juke joint scene. Featuring additional Sinners cast members Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Buddy Guy and Jack O’Connell, the “I Lied to You” medley also featured Sinners soundtrack contributors Brittany Howard and Alice Smith, Grammy-winning country star Shaboozey, best original song nominee Raphael Saadiq, Grammy-nominated blues rock guitarist Eric Gales, Grammy-winning blues artist Bobby Rush and history-making Black ballerina Misty Copeland. 

According to early data provided by Luminate, the Sinners compilation soundtrack collected 756,000 official on-demand U.S. streams the day after the Oscars (March 16), marking a 150% jump from the 301,000 official streams it logged the week prior (March 9). I Lied to You,” which lost the best original song Oscar to “Golden,” earned over 154,000 official on-demand U.S. streams the day after the ceremony (March 16), up 240% from the 45,000 streams it pulled the week prior (March 9). 

Meanwhile, the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack received 5.1 million streams the day after the Academy Awards. The Billboard 200-topping set also sold over 2,000 U.S. digital downloads in the same frame, good for a 282% jump in sales. “Golden,” the film’s signature hit, collected 1.68 million official on-demand U.S. streams following Sunday night’s telecast (March 16). The smash hit, which also picked up a Grammy in February, also sold over 1,6000 U.S. digital downloads, marking a whopping 608% increase in sales. 

Awards season may finally be over, but Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters both delivered eternal hits. — KYLE DENIS 

Tame Impala and JENNIE Run to the Viral Sunlight With “Dracula” Remix

It was an unexpected, though perhaps not altogether shocking pairing: Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, underground hero turned late-arriving crossover pop star, joining forces with JENNIE, solo star from BLACKPINK, for a new spin on “Dracula,” Tame’s breakout 2025 smash. “Dracula” has been on the Hot 100 for 24 weeks now, peaking at No. 30 in late 2025, with the remix giving it a new boost of streams upon its debut in early February. 

As is usually the case, that boost started to recede in the weeks after the remix’s release. But that trend has reversed course now, thanks to the JENNIE-featuring version of “Dracula” finding itself at the center of a new TIkTok trend — in which lip-syncers (usually in pairs) walk towards the camera, soundtracked by the song’s dark disco strut, for the section of the remix where Parker calls himself “Mr. Charisma” and JENNIE’s friends tell her to shut up and just get in the car. (JENNIE herself participated in the trend on Mar. 9.) 

For the tracking week ending Feb. 12 — the first period of the remix’s release — ”Dracula” amassed 7.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. After falling the next couple weeks, the song rebounded to 7.7 million streams for the week ending Mar. 5, and then 8.6 million the week ending Mar. 12. The song has since climbed back into the Hot 100’s top 40, sitting at No. 37 this week — with its original No. 30 peak certainly in its sights if the song continues to sink its fangs into TikTok and streaming audiences. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Nascent Alt-Rock Outfit Temper City Makes a Streaming Splash with Debut Single 

Temper City has virtually no digital footprint, but it’s already earned a rising hit. The enigmatic band has taken over TikTok relatively quickly, thanks to a snippet campaign for its “Self Aware” debut single, which it released on Feb. 15 via L.A.-based indie label Thirty Knots. Notably, Thirty Knots is the same company behind Nicky Youre’s “Sunroof,” which leveraged TikTok virality into an MTV VMA-nominated Hot 100 top five hit (No. 4) in 2022. 

The alt-rock outfit, which appears to be a trio according to the few performance clips posted to its official social media accounts, began posting teasers of the single on Jan. 28. The clips featured the band recording the song in the middle of the desert, with the snippet highlighting the back half of the pre-chorus and the first half of the chorus. The song quickly went viral on TikTok, thanks to its sonic similarities to 2010s indie rock bands like Cage the Elephant and The Neighbourhood, as well as its emotional lyrics. The official TikTok sound currently boasts nearly 150,000 clips. 

“Self Aware” earned 128,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of Feb. 13-19, which only accounts for a few days of tracking considering the song’s Sunday release. That figure vaulted 201% to 388,000 official streams the following week (Feb. 20-26), only to rise a further 118% to 849,000 official streams the week after that (Feb. 27-March 5). By March 6-12, “Self Aware” pulled over 1.12 million official weekly streams, marking a 32% jump. Over the past three weeks, “Self Aware” has exploded an impressive 770% in streaming activity — and that growth is poised to continue should TikTok (and social media at large) continue its love affair with Temper City’s debut single. — KD 

‘00s European Dance Hit “Just the Way You Are” Revived by New Australian Remix

No, not that “Just the Way You Are.” And no, not THAT one either. The “Just the Way You Are” currently going viral in the U.S. has nothing to do with either Billy Joel’s or Bruno Mars’ radio-conquering, Grammy-winning, wedding-soundtracking megaballads of the same name. Rather, this one comes from Italian house outfit Milky, whose euphoric, Go-Betweens-sampling “Just the Way You Are” was a Dance Radio Airplay-topping hit in the U.S. and a top 10 hit in the U.K. back in 2002. 

The song was reintroduced to global audiences in the mid-2020s thanks to interest in a new remix from Australian DJ/producer Mall Grab, which helped the original also catch fire on TikTok. Ultimately, the dual popularity of the two version sent the song back onto charts around the world — including in the U.K., where it got all the way back to No. 11 on the Official Singles Chart earlier this March, and in Australia, where it beat its original peak of No. 47 by getting to No. 27. 

Now the song is starting to take off on U.S. shores as well. With help from influential TikTokers like NBA rising star Jared McCain — who has used both the original and the remix in multiple videos — the song began to cross over to stateside streaming success. After amassing under 50,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the week ending Jan. 1, the song is up to over 2.7 million streams for the week ending March 12, according to Luminate. It reaches a new peak of No. 7 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Songs chart this week, and if its growth continues, it could soon be on the verge of its first-ever appearance on the Hot 100. – AU