Before The #MannequinChallenge is banished to the scrap heap where similar viral crazes such as planking currently reside, the online fad may help Rae Sremmurd get their first No. 1 hit. While the album SremmLife II was released back in August, the single “Black Beatles” has been consistently gaining traction in recent weeks—partially due to being streamed by so many people as the backing track to their own #MannequinChallenge videos.
Having one of the direct influences on the song, Sir Paul McCartney of The Beatles, co-sign it and post his own #MannequinChallenge video hasn’t hurt. Others, such as First Lady Michelle Obama, comedian/actor Dane Cook, and Premier League football club Manchester United have also joined in. Blac Chyna may have taken things to another level by staging a #MannequinChallenge in the hospital where she gave birth.
For some perspective, the Recording Industry Association of America’s Digital Single Award ratio values 150 on-demand streams and one download equally. The RIAA announced the change in early 2016 to reflect streaming’s growth. For the week ending Nov. 19, “Black Beatles” ranks as Rae Sremmurd’s highest-charting single on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart, at the No. 9 spot. Getting to the top could possibly earn the duo another RIAA plaque to go with platinum certifications for “This Could Be Us,” “Throw Sum Mo,” and “Come Get Her.” Their early hit single “No Type” has also been certified as double platinum.
“They know who we is, we know what we got,” group member Slim Jxmmi stated in an August interview for Complex. “Ain’t nobody know us before, so our first [album] was the pressure one. We don’ did it from nothing. We started from zero and went to 100. Ain’t nothing to go to 200!”
That proverbial 200 may come even quicker than we thought courtesy of the group’s newfound viral popularity.
