Tala scores 100 million views on YouTube

A big congratulations to Sarah Geronimo. The Pop Princess has something new to be happy about. And I do not mean anything that refers to her much-brouhahaed but supposed to be secret recent wedding to actor and product endorser Matteo Guidicelli.

This is something else. This is news that spells a major breakthrough for Filipino music. The way I am thinking now is, if Tala and Sarah can do it, then other Filipino songs and artists can also do it. All it takes is the right song and some important ingredients.

Last Thursday, Feb. 27, the video of Sarah’s song Tala crossed the 100 million mark on YouTube. That means that the video has been viewed all over the world 100 million times. That is a lot of views and people are still watching. In fact, as of this writing, the number has already increased to 100,883,221 views. We are on the road to 200 million!

Tala is a composition by Nica del Rosario and Emmanuel Sambayan that Sarah recorded late in 2015 for her album The Great Unknown. A video of the song was produced by Viva Music and this was premiered in MYX in June 2016. The video was directed by Paul Basinillo with choreography by Georcelle Dapat-Sy.

Now, take careful note of those names because they are responsible for the video that everybody so loves watching these days. It is commercial and concert director Basinillo who was responsible for Sarah’s exciting, fierce and sexy look in a jungle-inspired but still Filipinized setting for Tala.

As for Dapat-Sy who is known to her students as Teacher Georcelle of the G-Force, she choreographed those moves that inspired the Tala dance challenge on the web and which everybody is now trying to imitate. So remember, whenever you get into your Tala stance, make sure you do it right or Teacher Georcelle will have your hide.

Congratulations to everybody involved for the success of Tala and may there be more successes of this sort for Filipino talents soon. At a time when sales of physical CDs have all but disappeared, the only way that the music industry can survive is through streaming and downloading. And that means YouTube and Spotify and Apple, Deezer and all those other online platforms.

And not to forget that 100 million views on YouTube is not all that Tala has earned. That is only for the video. Tala also earns from those posts that use the song in the background and from all those cover versions. So every time you go into your Tala moves and then upload it online, you are earning royalties for Tala.

And note that Tala is also a hit on Spotify, Apple, etc., etc., etc. I estimate about 300 million streams and downloads all in all if the video and the sound recording sales of Tala are combined. And that is something to rejoice about. 

And now here are the Top 40 tunes most people are listening to nowadays as per the Top 100 of the Philippine Music Chart.

Imahe by Magnus Haven; Catriona by Matthaios; Yummy by Justin Bieber; Make It With You by Ben&Ben; Memories by Maroon 5; 10,000 Hours by Dan+Shay and Justin Bieber; Dance Monkey by Tones and I; Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi; Tala by Sarah Geronimo; ROXANNE by Arizona Zervas.

Vibe with Me also by Matthaios featuring Lonezo; Hindi Tayo Puede by The Juans; Binalewala by Michael Dutchi Libranda; I Want You Back again by Matthaios featuring Calvin de Leon; Pagtingin by Ben&Ben; Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa; Mean It by Lauv & LANY; Araw-Araw by Ben&Ben; Circles by Post Malone; Ivana by Soulstice.

Can We Kiss Forever? by Kina featuring Adriana Proenza; Falling by Trevor Daniel; Get You the Moon by Kina featuring Snow; Miracle Nights by ALLMO$T; Titig by Ex Battalion MC Einstein ft. Flow G, Yuri Dope & Jekpot; Black Swan by BTS; Masyado Pang Maaga by Ben&Ben; Zebbiana by Skusta Clee; Psycho by Red Velvet; Lose You to Love Me by Selena Gomez.

Kathang Isip by Ben&Ben; Neneng B by Nik Makino featuring Raf Davis; DUN DUN by EVERGLOW; Araw Araw Love by Ex Battalion /Flow G; bad guy by Billie Eilish; Ikaw at Ako by Moira dela Torre & Jason Marvin; Sa Susunod na Lang by PDL, Skusta Clee & Yuri; Rare by Selena Gomez; It’s You by Ali Gatie; Ayy Macarena by Tyga.