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: Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ new duet continues to grow, Taylor Swift’s second Tortured poets The single makes its way to radio and Gigi Perez may be the next singer-songwriter on the verge of her big mainstream breakthrough.

“Die With a Smile” wants to reach the top 10 of the Hot 100

A duet between Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars was always going to generate a lot of interest upon its release, and “Die With a Smile,” the anthemic pop-rock collaboration released Friday (Aug. 16), is hoping to leverage that star status for a splashy debut in the upper echelons of the Hot 100. And while that seemed unlikely based on the duet’s first-day numbers, it improved over the course of its first week — and now a chart-topping debut could well be within reach.

After debuting with 2.78 million on-demand audio streams in the U.S. on its first day, according to Luminate, “Smile” stayed at that daily streaming mark throughout the weekend. However, on Monday (August 19), the song saw a significant increase in streaming numbers, with 3.52 million streams—a 34% increase from the previous day. And the song just keeps growing—reaching the top of both Spotify’s Daily Top Songs U.S. and Apple Music’s real-time charts by its release on Wednesday. (The song has also done very well in digital song sales, selling over 14,000 units in its first four days of release, as it remained at the top of the iTunes charts for almost the entire time.)

Perhaps more pop fans have flocked to the song as the work week begins, or perhaps TikTok users have started to sink their teeth into its hooks. Either way, “Smile” could potentially add another top 10 spot to Mars and Gaga’s long history of success early next week. – JASON LIPSHUTZ

How big can Taylor Swift’s “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” get?

On Tuesday night (August 20), Taylor Swift capped off her five-date Wembley Stadium tour and the European leg of the Eras tour with the unveiling of a new music video for “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” which offers behind-the-scenes insight into the mega-tour. The anthem about shining in the spotlight amid personal turmoil can be heard on The “Tortured Poets” sectionwhich marks its 15th frame at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week.

And unlike “Fortnight,” the album’s first single featuring Post Malone, which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, “Broken Heart” slowly climbed back up the charts and became a cross-platform hit.

Read more about Taylor Swift’s growing success with “Broken Heart” here.

“Sailor Song” paves the way for singer/songwriter Gigi Perez to go viral

New Jersey-born, Florida-raised Gigi Perez had some streaming success in the early 2020s with the ballad “Sometimes (Backwood),” which garnered nine-figure streams on Spotify. But the singer-songwriter, whose sound is reminiscent of 2000s alt-folk favorites like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, appears to be on her way to new heights of virality with her new love song “Sailor Song,” shared on TikTok.

The long-awaited song has garnered praise and even comparisons to Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” for its passionate delivery and lyrics about queer love and longing — while also drawing some backlash from religious TikTokers who object to the chorus, “I don’t believe in God/ But I believe that you’re my savior.” Perez responded to the controversy and users calling for her to change or remove that lyric with a TikTok of her own on Monday (August 19), explaining in a caption that changing the lyrics “was never up for discussion… My songwriting is not a democracy and that goes for every artist’s work.”

The discussion surrounding “Sailor Song,” however, has only helped its mainstream usage. According to Luminate, the song had 3.9 million official on-demand streams in the U.S. in the tracking week ending August 1 — already a huge number for a new song from an artist without extensive chart history — but two weeks later, that number has risen to 4.6 million, a 23% increase. The song also climbed from No. 18 to No. 12 on Hot Rock Songs this week, making it one of the chart’s biggest gainers. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER