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Billboard magazine has been charting America's listening habits since 1936, but those habits have changed. With the rise of social media, audiences are finding music in new ways. So every week since last September, Billboard has been tracking the TikTok 50. NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas explored this week's chart.
ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS, BYLINE: The record industry pays close attention to what music TikTok users share with each other. That exposure has led directly to some huge hits in recent years. Billboard's TikTok 50 chart bases its positions on, quote, "creations, video views and user engagement." It's probably no surprise that Tommy Richman's "Million Dollar Baby" has been leading this chart for the past five weeks. The song is part of a growing club - songs that first find an audience on TikTok before crossing over to radio and streaming success. "Million Dollar Baby" climbed all the way to the top three of Billboard's main pop chart, the Hot 100.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MILLION DOLLAR BABY")
TOMMY RICHMAN: (Singing) I ain't never rep a set, baby. I ain't do no wrong. I could clean up good for you. Oh, I know right from wrong. 'Cause I want to make it so badly. I'm a million-dollar baby. Don't at me.
TSIOULCAS: But what's fun about the TikTok chart is it's packed with more offbeat singles than the Billboard 100, including an unusual cover of this hit from 2006.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CRAZY")
GNARLS BARKLEY: (Singing) I think you're crazy. I think you're crazy.
TSIOULCAS: This is the original version of "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. A Canadian comedian, actor and singer named Stephen Kramer Glickman took it in a rather maudlin direction.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CRAZY")
STEPHEN KRAMER GLICKMAN: (Singing) Does that make me crazy? Does that make me crazy?
TSIOULCAS: This version of "Crazy" features cellist Marza Wilks, and it entered the TikTok chart this week at No. 6. Now, the industry will keep its eyes on the TikTok 50 to see if this version of "Crazy" has legs.
Anastasia Tsioulcas, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CRAZY")
KRAMER GLICKMAN: (Singing) And I hope that you having the time of your life...
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