How Did Multiple Podcasts Help a New Song by Magnus Ferrell — Son of Will — Go Viral?
Categoria: Musica
This week's Trending Up looks at the breakout success of Magnus' "Asleep Talking," as well as a video-boosted collab between two rap crossover stars and more.
Por Billboard | 29/07/2026
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: Magnus Ferrell scores a breakout hit, Latto and Doja Cat get some added momentum from a much-discussed music video — and yes, one more World Cup-related song. Major Podcast Looks Help Boost Magnus Ferrell’s Breakthrough Single ‘Asleep Talking ‘ It seems that a new successor to the lineage of Robin Thicke/Justin Timberlake-esque blue-eyed soul has emerged — and he happens to be the son of Emmy-winning comedy icon Will Ferrell. Magnus Ferrell released “Asleep Talking” — a soulful midtempo number that recalls the laid-back groove of jazz-infused classics like Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do for Love” — in the spring (April 24), but a recent wave of social media love via key podcast mentions have helped the track gain new momentum this summer. On July 1, the senior Ferrell stopped by Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson’s IMO podcast , where he proudly played a snippet of his son’s buzzy track. By July 23, “Asleep Talking” earned a favorable mention from The Morning Shift Show , which boasts over 1.6 million followers on TikTok alone. In the interim, Magnus Ferrell has been cranking out social media content promoting the song — including clips of him reacting to NBC News picking up the connection between him and his father — while launching his Blue Note Los Angeles residency on July 21. According to Luminate, “Asleep” earned just 67,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of July 18-21. Over the next four days (July 22-25), “Asleep” vaulted a whopping 892% to over 670,000 official on-demand streams. With its No. 24 debut on the Aug. 1-dated Digital Song Sales chart, “Asleep” helps Magnus officially join his father as a Billboard -charting artist. Back in 2020, “Husavik,” Will Ferrell’s song from his Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, peaked at No. 16 on the same ranking. — KYLE DENIS Glamorous Music Video Lifts Latto & Doja Cat’s ‘Okayyy’ Last week (July 21), Latto and Doja Cat dropped their sexy “Okayyy” music video — and it’s already having an impact on the song’s streaming success. Taken from Latto’s new Big Mama LP, “Okayyy” earned over 823,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in the five-day period preceding the music video (July 16-20), according to Lumiante. In the five-day period following the video’s release (July 21-25), that number leapt 308% to over 3.36 million streams. On YouTube, the “Okayyy” music video has surpassed 4.7 million views in just over a week, and the official TikTok sound p