Social media users were apparently feeling wistful going into 2026, as one of the first big memes of the year was digging up old photos and posts from 2016. As “2026 is the new 2016” gained traction online, Luminate found numerous artists that defined popular music in 2016 were gaining significant streaming increases as people took nostalgic trips back to the days of EDM and Soundcloud rap.
Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 singles chart for 2016 is a helpful time capsule for the songs that defined the sound of the era. Sure enough, around the same time as fond remembrances of 2016 began trending, almost all of the top 10 songs of the day saw notable spikes in U.S. On-Demand Audio streams between the last week of 2025 and mid-January.
Interestingly, the biggest jumps in weekly streams seemed to be reserved for songs by artists who are more closely associated with 2016 pop music. “Panda” by Desiigner boasted the biggest week-over-week increase from the last week of December 2025 to the third week of January (+68.6%), followed by “Don’t Let Me Down” by Major Lazer (+35.6%) and “Closer” by The Chainsmokers (+42%).
Although the trajectory of one-hit wonders is arguably different in a world of of niche online fandoms and fading monoculture, it’s fair to say these particular artists were most prevalent in the zeitgeist around 2016.
As such, the nostalgia for their songs seems to be stronger compared with 2016 hits by Rihanna, Drake or Justin Bieber — artists who continued to be active and incredibly popular in the ensuing decade.
This trend continues further down the 2016 Hot 100 list: Songs by popular mid-2010s artists including Mike Posner (“I Took a Pill in Ibiza,” +51.6%), DJ Snake (“Let Me Love You,” +37.4%) and DRAM (“Broccoli,” +49.3%) all saw streaming spikes at higher WoW rates versus artists who are still prominent today.
But perhaps the biggest benefactor of the 2016 nostalgia is Fetty Wap, the New Jersey rapper who earned several top 10 singles around 2015-16 before fading from the mainstream. Fetty Wap was released early from his six-year stint in federal prison on drug charges — coincidentally right as people were finding that everything old is new again.
As a combined result of the soft spot for 2016 and news of the rapper’s release, Fetty Wap’s two biggest songs from the era, “679” and “Trap Queen,” both increased in U.S. ODA streams by over 200% in the same period as the other 2016 hits.
Although the streaming wave is already subsiding for the majority of artists who benefited, it’s possible some will continue to see occasional boosts if 2010s nostalgia becomes more frequent. Maybe 2027 will be the new 2017?
