Linkin Park catalogue expansion and major streaming launch of “Emptiness Machine”

Welcome to Billboard Pro's Upward trend Newsletter where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have captured the music industry's attention. Some came out of nowhere, others took months to catch on, and all could be ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.

This week: Linkin Park's second act gets off to a remarkable start on streaming, Rich Homie Quan's catalog explodes on streaming following his tragic death, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce put a sing-along spin on a 2000s classic, and more.

Linkin Park's streaming catalog grows rapidly after comeback news

Next week's Hot 100 charts will likely feature a new Linkin Park single – a proposition that seemed unlikely just a week ago. But the band's return, as BillboardLast Thursday's (September 5) exclusive cover story revealed new arena tour dates (beginning tonight at the Forum in Los Angeles), a new studio album (From Zero, out November 15), and a powerful new song, “The Emptiness Machine,” that's off to a hot start on streaming.

Following its release on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET, when Linkin Park kicked off a global livestream performance, “The Emptiness Machine” reached 2.22 million on-demand audio streams in the U.S. on Friday, its first full day of release, according to Luminate. The single reached around one million U.S. audio streams over the next three days, ending its first full four-day period with 6.47 million streams, while also bringing in over 6,000 digital sales – likely putting it on track for a major appearance on the Hot 100.

However, Linkin Park's return also boosts the band's back catalog and greatest hits, as listeners rehearse their old albums before receiving a new album in November. From Sept. 6-9, the band's catalog (minus “The Emptiness Machine”) totaled 30.11 million audio streams in the U.S. — a 62% increase compared to the same four-day period the previous week. That increase also included big week-over-week gains for hits like “Numb” (up 60%), “One Step Closer” (up 76%) and “Faint” (up nearly 100%), as fans heard new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong sing all three songs during the band's livestream and wanted to hear the classic versions as well. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

Rich Homie Quan's catalog soars in streaming business after rap star's death

The hip-hop world was rocked last week (September 5) by the tragic news of Rich Homie Quan's death at just 33 years old. The Atlanta rapper, whose real name was Dequantes Devontay Lamar, was one of hip-hop's leading hitmakers in the mid-2010s when his hometown basically became the rap capital of the US. In the days that followed, tributes poured in from Quan's collaborators and contemporaries, paying tribute to both the man and the artist and expressing their dismay at his untimely passing.

Fans of Rich Homie Quan also expressed their grief by streaming his music en masse, of course. From September 2 to September 4, the three days before his death, the rapper amassed a total of 1.7 million official on-demand streams in the U.S. for his solo catalog as a lead artist—but that number shot up to a total of 31.7 million in the following three days, according to Luminate, a staggering 1,727% increase. Leading songs from his catalog during that time period include his Hot 100 hits “Type of Way” (4.5 million total streams, a 1,892% increase) and “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)” (3.6 million streams, a 1,666% increase).

However, those numbers don't take into account the song that received the most social media acclaim following Quan's death: “Lifestyle,” his classic 2014 team-up with Atlanta rap icon Young Thug, released under the collective name Rich Gang. During the same period, “Lifestyle” garnered 4.7 million total streams, up 598% from the previous three-day period. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

The Taylor Bump: Works for 2000s retro rockers as well as presidential candidates

Taylor Swift made headlines around the world on Tuesday night (September 10) with her official endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, announcing her support for the current vice president with a social media blast following Harris' debate with former President Donald Trump. The impact of endorsing the biggest figure in contemporary pop culture is likely to be huge – but Harris isn't the only person benefiting from the Taylor Swift bump this week.

On Sunday (September 8), Swift attended the US Open men's tennis final in Queens, New York, with celebrity boyfriend Travis Kelce (with another Taylor, American finalist Taylor Fritz), where the pair were spotted singing (and even playing air guitar) along to a 2000s classic – “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” the 2000s hit by British retro rockers The Darkness – with Swift, of course, dramatically miming the lyrics.

Click here for the full story on the Taylor/Travis streaming bump from The Darkness. – AU

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has the recipe for a “MacArthur Park” revival

For the recently released box office hit Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – of course the sequel to the cult comedy from 1988 Beetlejuice – the filmmakers wanted to recreate the magic of the first film's famous playback scene featuring Harry Belafonte's “Banana Boat (Day-O).” They didn't want to reuse Belafonte's '50s classic for the scene, however, so they opted for something much, much more modern for the sequel 36 years later: “MacArthur Park,” the bizarre psych-pop rhapsody written by Jimmy Webb that became a No. 2 Hot 100 hit for actor and singer Richard Harris in 1968 before Donna Summer took her discofified version to No. 1 in 1978.

Since appearing in the hit sequel, “MacArthur Park” has become increasingly popular on streaming. The Harris version used in the film garnered over 110,000 on-demand audio streams in the U.S. from Sept. 8 to 11 — the film’s four days of release — according to Luminate, representing a 939% increase over the same period in the previous tracking week. Summer’s version, which is also heard on the film’s soundtrack, benefited similarly — rising 241% to 98,000 streams over the same period — and Belafonte’s “Day-O,” which is only heard on the soundtrack in the form of a cover by Alfie Davis & The Sylvia Young Theatre School Choir, also saw a 52% increase to 485,000 streams. — AU

Winnings of the season: Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl announcement hits the nerve of DSPs

The NFL season has started back up, and even if you didn't catch the action on Sunday (September 8), you may have still felt the excitement of football's return — thanks to the early announcement that the upcoming Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans will be headlined by rapper of the moment Kendrick Lamar. The announcement was met with some controversy, with many rap purists voicing their support for Big Easy hip-hop icon Lil Wayne as an alternate headliner, but many streaming listeners were clearly still excited about a potential K Dot set — the rapper's total streams topped 11.6 million on Monday, according to Luminate, up 12% from the previous Monday. — AU