The Billboard Trending 140: Aug. 12-18

J.Cole (@JColeNC) made an emotional impact on Twitter when he Tweeted “Be Free,” a song he wrote to express his feelings over #Ferguson. As of today, the Tweet has 16,000+ Retweets and the song has 1M+ plays on @Soundcloud. #BeFree

For several weeks, Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) has been dropping clues about her new single. On August 18, Swift delighted fans with the new single and video #ShakeItOff. The track, off her new album “1989”, trended worldwide and made it into the top popular tracks of the week on the Billboard Twitter Popular Chart.

@WizKhalifa’s “Blacc Hollywood” came out on Tuesday, after weeks of Billboard chart dominance.

“Sparks” is the fourth album from English singer @ImogenHeap, who debuted her album this week, along with a revelation during her GRAMMY.com interview: she dreams of collaborating with @missyelliott.

Every once in a while, a leaked track makes major waves on Twitter and then disappears. This week it was @kanyewest’s highly anticipated “All Day.” The recording rocketed to #1 on the Trending 140 before it was gone from all sources.

While @Charli_XCX’s “Boom Clap” crosses the 1 million mark for digital sales, “Break the Rules” seems poised to follow close behind. The new song was #1 on the Popular Chart for the past week.

Emerging artists shine
Record label October’s Very Own catapulted @ilovemakonnen up the charts with “Tuesday” featuring @Drake dominating both the Emerging and Popular editions.

Have you heard @Hozier’s “Take Me to Church?” The track has picked up steam and new fans steadily since its release in 2013. The Ireland musician did a live version for his Vevo session last week and the track returned to the Billboard chart.

Music videos matter
@IggyAzalea’s sleek “Black Widow” video dropped this week and went straight up the Popular Chart. The video features Iggy and @RitaOra in glam “Kill Bill”-inspired fashion. The video has already racked up 10 million views.