"Black Beatles," the viral Mannequin Challenge theme that has swept the nation, has now officially conquered the world as well.
The song has rocketed to the top of Spotify's global charts, putting an end to the almost three-month-long reign of "Closer" by The Chainsmokers.
What a difference a week makes. In our last Spotify streaming chart report, we told you how Rae Sremmurd's "Black Beatles" took hold of the top spot on the U.S. Spotify streaming charts on the strength of the wildly viral Mannequin Challenge, for which the track acts as the unofficial theme.
Despite its strength in America, the song still hadn't conquered the Global streaming charts, placing in at ninth place as "Closer" held on to the top spot for yet another week, where it had reigned since Sept. 1.
Now, one week later, the Mannequin Challenge has gone the definition of viral, winning the top spot not only on the American charts but globally as well. The race between "Black Beatles," "Closer" and the No. 3 global track, The Weeknd's "Starboy," was truly a nail-biter, with just about a million streams separating all three songs.
Ultimately, it was Sremmurd's viral hit that prevailed with 28,636,841 global streams to "Closer's" 27,918,060 and 27,607,400 for "Starboy." In addition, "Black Beatles" is the only song in the top 10 of Spotify's global streaming chart to be on an upward trajectory, with Bruno Mars' "24K Magic" the next upward mover at No. 11.
The race in the United States meanwhile wasn't even close, as "Black Beatles" dominated for the second week in a row with more than 15 million streams, at least 6 million more than second-placer "Starboy." Drake's "Fake Love" rebounded a bit from fourth to third place, while "Closer" finally showed its age with a drop to fourth.
"24K Magic" also regained some momentum in the U.S. chart, moving into the top 10 for the very first time at No. 10. The daily Spotify charts indicate even more good news for the Mars song, which currently sits at No. 5 on the U.S. tally.
With the holiday season ready to begin, there should now be a traditional lull in new releases, as most major artists have already released their final tracks of 2016. In the weeks to come, expect more chart-jockeying among the current contenders as well as the entry of a slew of Christmas tracks that begin to infiltrate the streaming charts as that holiday approaches.
