This week Tony and I trended (hopefully…). The rise of social media has meant that a song’s popularity is no longer dependent solely on its chart performance. Songs now explode online, fuelled by TikTok dances, Facebook groups, memes, and whatever laws govern internet popularity. Tonight we traced the strange journeys that have taken forgotten B-sides, protest anthems, and even jazz ballads from obscurity to obsession, and from has-been to hit.
Connie Francis and Cranberry Juice
Pretty Little Baby was released in 1962 by Connie Francis as the B-Side to I’m Gonna Be Warm This Winter, and was included on her MGM Records album Connie Francis Sings Second Hand Love & Other Hits. The song then gathered dust for decades until TikTok gave it new life in 2025. Users paired Pretty Little Baby with videos of babies, pets, and makeup tutorials, pushing it to billions of views and the top of the app’s viral chart. Connie Francis admitted she barely remembered recording it, and joked she didn’t know what “viral” meant, but happily embraced the attention. The trend spilled onto streaming platforms; the song gained over 100 million Spotify plays, a reissued vinyl pressing, and multilingual versions — all months before Francis’s death in July.
In 2020, a man named Nathan Apodaca was stranded on a highway after his truck broke down. To pass the time, he filmed himself drinking Ocean Spray cranberry juice while riding a skateboard, and lip-syncing to Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 song Dreams. His laid-back video went viral and racked up more than 87 million views, and earned nods from Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood, the latter of whom filmed a playful homage. Streams of Dreams shot up by 88% in just two days, and the track re-entered the charts more than four decades after its initial release. Ocean Spray even rewarded Apodaca with a new car filled with cranberry juice — proof that one smooth ride can reboot a classic.
Dances of Dissent
In December 2009, British couple Jon and Tracy Morter launched a Facebook campaign urging people to buy Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 protest anthem Killing in the Name – inspired by police brutality and the Rodney King riots- to block X Factor winner Joe McElderry from claiming the UK Christmas No. 1. Over 750,000 people joined, and supporters raised more than £160,000 for Shelter through donations and royalties. Simon Cowell added fuel to the fire when he dismissed the campaign as “stupid”. Rage also performed the song uncensored live on BBC Radio 5, repeating its furious refrain for millions of listeners. By Christmas week, the track had sold over half a million downloads, making it the UK’s first ever digital-only No. 1 single, and setting a Guinness World Record for ‘Fastest-selling digital track (UK)’.
Lottery (Renegade) (2019) took off thanks to a TikTok dance created by teenager Jalaiah Harmon, later adopted by platform stars like Charli D’Amelio. The “Renegade” challenge became a lockdown-era phenomenon. It also highlighted the lack of recognition for Black creators given Harmon‘s (initial) lack of recognition, and sparked wider conversations in the media. Produced by Reazy Renegade and written in just two days, and the track’s murky 808s and stripped-down beat provided the perfect canvas for the viral moves that followed. K Camp later released remixes with Quavo and T-Pain, but it was Harmon’s choreography that made the song a cultural marker.
Vintage Swing to Next-Gen Pop
Icelandic singer-songwriter Laufey carved out a niche as TikTok’s “jazz ambassador,” posting standards and originals that have made her a Gen Z favorite. From the Start (2023) is a witty tale of unrequited love, and became the breakout single from her second album Bewitched. Within 24 hours it had crossed a million streams, building on her reputation from viral covers and her Berklee-trained musicianship. Critics hailed her as “casually elegant,” Billie Eilish shouted her out, and by 2024 she had a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
Netflix’s KPop Demon was released in 2025, and blends Korean mythology with the global force of idol culture. Its lead track Golden by HUNTR/X shot straight to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and is part of a soundtrack that placed four songs in the Top 10 simultaneously. The film became Netflix’s most-watched ever, with 236 million views, and the soundtrack broke records previously held by other K-Pop giants BTS and BLACKPINK. With choreography, costuming, and themes of self-empowerment sparking viral challenges, has become a mainstream cultural juggernaut. A sequel is already on the way!
Gaga v Tears For Fears
Our soundslike this week came from listener Patricia Ellman in Cambridge: Patricia heard similarities between Lady Gaga’s 2025 single Abracadabra and Tears For Fears’ 1982 song Mad World.
Trending Quiz
For our quiz this week, we played clips from famous songs that have in some way trended – guess the artist and song!
As always, find the show and blog at joebennett.net/5live, with occasional Instagram extras at @joebennettmusicology. With a new show comes a new Spotify mega-playlist, which contains all songs featured on the show:
And you can still listen to our old mega-playlist here.
- Words: Joe Bennett, John Pierce O’Reilly
- Audio production: Joe Bennett, Rafi Waters
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