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"Livin' On A Prayer" Returns to the Charts


Carl

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In February, Billboard started counting YouTube views and other streams as a factor in determining the Hot 100, resulting in "Harlem Shake" hitting the top spot.

Now, thanks to this rule, Bon Jovi's chestnut "Livin' On A Prayer" is back on the chart at #25 (the song was released in 1986 and first charted in 1987).

Here's how it happened:

In 2009, with the Boston Celtics coming off a championship season and seemingly on their way to another, "Livin' On A Prayer" plays during a commercial break at the arena. The Jumbotron shows fans singing and dancing along to the song, cutting every 6 seconds or so to a new scene.

We're all familiar with this Jumbotron act: some fans game the system by looking for the cameras and doing something rehearsed. Directors don't mind that, but the real Jumbotron gold is mined from spontaneous performance - folks who seem unaware of the camera's presence. It's even better if the subject is sober and/or family-friendly.

When Jeremy Fry got his shot, he made the most of it, exuberantly dancing down the aisle, engaging fellow fans along the way in a brilliant performance that may have been the best user-generated timeout entertainment in the history of sport.

It somehow took until this October for the video to surface online, but when it did, millions of views followed. Every watch nudged the song a little higher in Billboard's algorithm, and for the first time (we think) brought a tune back to the Hot 100 through viral video.

Here's the clip:

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