BRITS (AND IRISH GUY) LEAD SONY'S HOT STREAK

Hozier, Central Cee, Myles Smith

Led by “Too Sweet,” Hozier’s first-half smash, it appears that Sony’s hot streak isn’t cooling off anytime soon. The Irish rocker’s hit is showing further signs that it’s a giant: It’s still in the Top 10 at Apple Music and Spotify U.S. while making a chart-topping run at multiple radio formats, including Pop, Alternative and AAA. “Too Sweet” reached #1 on the Spot's U.S. chart back in April.

Brit breakouts Central Cee and newcomer Myles Smith have two of the hottest tracks in both the U.S. and overseas at the moment. The former act signed to Columbia last summer; the latter inked a transatlantic deal with RCA stateside in collaboration with RCA U.K.

Cee has entered unchartered territory for a U.K. rapper in the U.S.—“BAND4BAND” f/Lil Baby is Top 15 at both Spotify and Apple Music. The track has also hit new global streaming peaks (5.2m) for a U.K. rapper, surpassing “Sprinter,” Cee’s monster collaboration with Dave, which topped U.K. charts for 10 weeks in 2023.

Smith’s “Stargazing” has racked up nearly 200k creations on TikTok in less than a month. The song by the British troubadour, who cites Mumford & Sons and Tom Odell as influences, has reached the Top 25 on Spotify’s domestic and international charts. The push to close Smith, who went viral on TikTok with cover songs, was led by Glyn Aiken and Jason Iley in the U.K., with yanks Derrick Aroh and Jaryn Valdry leading A&R on this side of the pond.

Meanwhile, Columbia’s Koe Wetzel—an American—is holding firm at Apple with “Sweet Dreams.” The breaking song is Top 10 on the platform's highly competitive country chart. Wetzel’s album is due in July. SME also has Jamaican artist Rvssian’s “Santa” f/Rauw Alejandro (American) & Nigerian Ayra Starr (Sony Latin) and American act Djo’s “End of Beginning” (AWAL) in the Top 25 at Spotify global.