Playboi Carti Is Back Atop TikTok Billboard Top 50
Playboi Carti’s “Sky” returns to No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, with Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” creeping even closer to the top of the list, rising 3-2 on the ranking dated Dec. 9.
The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity Nov. 27-Dec. 3. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.
“Sky,” featured on Playboi Carti’s 2020 album Whole Lotta Red, is a monthly visitor to the top reaches of the TikTok Billboard Top 50 – and on TikTok as a whole prior to the chart’s September 2023 inception – thanks to start-of-the-month trends highlighting the song’s “Wake up/ It’s the first of the month” lyric. In the spirit of the holidays, some of the latest uploads even utilize a Christmas-themed remix of the tune as it vaults to the top.
The Dec. 9 survey is the second time “Sky” has ruled the chart, following the tally dated Oct. 7. It returned at No. 2 on the Nov. 11 list.
“Sky” isn’t the only song whose appearance on the latest TikTok Billboard Top 50 is spurred by first-of-the-month trends, either. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s “1st of Tha Month” returns at No. 27, after debuting at No. 22 on the Nov. 11 chart. That’s no accident, of course; the “Wake up/ It’s the first of the month” lyric from “Sky” is itself an interpolation of the chorus of “1st of Tha Month.”
The ascension of “Sky” concludes a three-week run at No. 1 for Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine,” which drops to No. 3. It’s also passed by Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which continues its march to the top of the ranking with a new peak of No. 2.
Continuing with the weekly holiday-themed check-in, Carey leads five holiday tunes on the Dec. 9 tally, up from four the previous frame. Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” joins “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in the top 10, leaping 18-9, and Wham!’s “Last Christmas” rises 14-13. The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” jumps 46-30, one spot behind a debut in Michael Buble’s “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” at No. 29.
The week’s top debut on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 belongs to Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman,” which starts at No. 12. Released in 1981, the experimental electronic track has gone viral after a Nov. 22 upload of a user looking at a photo of her great-great-grandmother who had died 100 years before. The trend centers on the lyrics “Well, you don’t know me/ But I know you,” with creators using the song to delve into their own family histories, discuss supernatural happenings and strange coincidences, and more.
Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” also sports a sizable start, appearing on the chart for the first time at No. 14. The song has gone through multiple waves of virality over the years, with the most recent trend highlighting a filter that slowly ages the user all the way to 2073, 50 years in the future.
And though it’s far from a newcomer on the viral TikTok scene, Conan Gray’s “Heather” also debuts, bowing at No. 23. It originally went viral on the platform in 2020, eventually vaulting to a No. 46 peak on the Billboard Hot 100 that September. Why’s it back now? The song’s opening lyrics reference Dec. 3, the closing day of the latest TikTok Billboard Top 50’s tracking week.
See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here, which also features debuts from Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Rod Wave and more. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.
Kevin Rutherford
Billboard
