The best COVID-19 songs and parodies

Artists are getting creative, fans are flooding TikTok with their remakes and millions are reconnecting with the soundtrack of their youth. Here’s what is, soothing, amusing and going pop during the pandemic shutdown.

Artists are getting creative, fans are flooding TikTok with their remakes and millions are reconnecting with the soundtrack of their youth as they search for musical distraction and comfort during the COVID-19 crisis.

Here’s what is, soothing, amusing and going pop during the pandemic shutdown.

GOING VIRAL

– Literally the most viral song in the world is the cough-heavy hip hop song coronavirus released by Soundcloud rapper Lil Nix. Featuring on every pandemic-inspired playlist in the past week and raced to more than one million streams on Spotify.

– Supalonely by the rising New Zealand artist Benee has also captured the feelings of the self-isolated and has already clocked up more than 71 million streams.

— Despite its title, the breezy folk rap of the song death bed (coffee for your head), by Canadian rapper Powfu and featuring British singer Beabadoobee, is also going nuts on global streaming services with more than 130 streams since its February release.

– LA-based Australian artist Sam Fischer was finally getting his moment with breakout single This City before the virus escalated around the world courtesy of more than 1.4 million TikTok videos inspired by the loneliness lament. But it has now become a COVID-19 soundtrack for the self-isolated – if you love Lewis Capaldi and Ed Sheeran, this one’s for you – and has raced past 100 million streams as radio airplay starts kicking in.

PANDEMIC PARODY

– The Knack’s My Sharona immediately lent itself to become the pandemic pop anthem My Corona. The surviving bandmates Bert Averre and Preston Niles got in the act this week, offering a guitar version they called Bye Carona.

– “Is this a fever?/Is this just allergies?” opens the Bohemian Rhapsody-inspired Coronavirus Rhapsody with lyrics by Dana Jay Bein and vocals by Adrian Grimes which is generating a few giggles on YouTube.

– The Marsh family from Kent in the UK are also getting widely shared for their COVID-inspired rewrite of One Day More from Les Miserables. Dad Ben, mum Danielle and their four harmonising children shared some common coronavirus hibernation dilemmas such as “Do I change my underwear?”

COMFORT LISTENING

As radio stations attempt to reconnect with their home-locked audiences, a raft of classics are flooding the airwaves.

The Music Network’s current Hot 100 Airplay chart features (Don’t You) Forget About Me by Simple Minds, Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics, Faith by George Michael, Toto’s Africa, The Police’s Don’t Stand So Close To Me, 1927’s That’s When I Think Of You and All That She Wants by Ace of Base.

“It’s not unusual to have “classics” re-enter the airplay charts, but it is undeniably a reflection of where radio is at right now as they chase 30-year-old Belinda from the western suburbs,” The Music Network editor Jake Challenor said.

“She wants familiarity more than ever with all the uncertainty in the air. Comfort songs, if you will. So expect more hits from years gone by to enter the charts as radio adapt their playlists to meet the mood of listeners.”

Greatest hits compilations and seminal albums from heritage artists including Fleetwood Mac, The Police, Prince, Nickelback and Neil Young are flooding the iTunes album chart thanks to being on sale for $9.99.