A viral TikTok video featuring a laid-back skateboarder lip-synching to Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" has propelled the 1977 hit back into the Billboard Hot 100 after an absence of more than three decades. TikTok user doggface208's antics-as he cruised down the street, sipping a family-sized bottle of juice-quickly struck a chord, racking up 8.6 million likes.
And beyond propelling its creator-real name Nathan Apodaca-to viral fame, the video has reignited interest in the 70's country-rock legends. Stevie Nicks' melancholic meditation on a failed relationship, re-entered the Billboard chart for the week of October 17 at 21, just two weeks after Apodaca's clip first went viral.
"TikTok has driven catalog hits back to various Billboard charts before… but never a song this old and a Hot 100 rebound this high," Billboard reporter Tatiana Cirisano wrote in a post on the magazine's website. "It shows that TikTok's tried-and-true power to catapult songs to mainstream recognition is only getting stronger." Phil Collins is another classic artist to have benefited from a viral-video bounce.
In August, a YouTube clip in which two 22-year-olds shared their first reaction to his famous drum fill from "In the Air Tonight" sent the song into the number two spot on Apple's iTunes chart. The return of "Dreams" to the charts has also sparked a broader surge of interest in Fleetwood Mac's back catalog, with Billboard reporting a bump in streams for the rockers' other work.
The song's creators have even paid tribute to Apodaca's viral hit-co-founder Mick Fleetwood last week recorded his own version of the 37-year-old factory worker's now world-famous video. And on Tuesday, Nicks posted her first video on TikTok, singing along to "Dreams" while sitting at a piano, lacing up a pair of roller skates. She tagged doggface208 in the video, which also featured a similar bottle of juice. Asked to account for the clip's popularity, Billboard's Cirisano said the "wholesome skateboarder vibe" had universal appeal.-AFP