Johnny Cash’s legacy is secure, as he’s still regarded as one of the most beloved and influential musicians of all time. Decades after the man in black’s passing, people are not only still listening to his work, but finding new ways to interact with it…and all that attention has helped him manage a very unlikely feat.
This week, Cash earns a brand new top 10 hit on a Billboard chart. That fact may surprise some, as he’s been dead since 2003, but his accomplishment becomes even more impressive when noting that it’s actually his first win ever on one particular ranking.
Cash’s song “The Chicken In Black” debuts this week on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart. The tune opens at No. 6 on the ranking of the most-used songs on TikTok, according to Billboard’s relatively new ranking.
Unsurprisingly, “The Chicken in Black” marks Cash’s first appearance on the TikTok Billboard Top 50. The tally was only introduced by the chart company in late 2023, and it ranks solely which tracks are performing well via a number of consumption metrics on the social media app. Nearly every week, a new legacy act earns their first placement on this roster, which is largely dominated by newer, younger names.
“The Chicken in Black” impressively scores the second-highest debut this week on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart. Cash comes in behind only newcomer Tommy Richman, whose “Million Dollar Baby”—which sounds like it could have been a perfect song title for Cash—launches at No. 2.
Cash has a troubled history with his own song, so it’s unclear how he’d feel about its current success. Released in 1984, the one-off single was not a commercial favorite. It peaked just outside the top 40 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, and quickly faded away.
11 songs debut on this week’s edition of the TikTok Billboard Top 50. On top of those arrivals, four other tunes return to the tally. Cash is one of more than a dozen musicians who earn new appearances–or perhaps their first–this week on the list. He joins familiar names like Alec Benjamin, Laufey, Tyler, the Creator, and Taylor Swift, who scores two new placements at once.