<p> A 19th-century sea shanty has landed a spot in the UK top 40 as the traditional sailor songs are enjoying a new wave of popularity thanks to the popular short video app TikTok.</p>.<p>The song "Wellerman" performed by The Longest Johns, a band from Bristol in western England, is now at No. 37, in the Official Chart, which takes into account streaming of music.</p>.<p>The song is also at No. 1 in Spotify's viral 50, which includes social media shares, in the United States and the United Kingdom and at No.2 globally.</p>.<p>"Wellerman" is believed to have been written in New Zealand in the mid-19th century and tells the tale of sailors waging an epic battle with a whale they are hunting.</p>.<p>The traditional genre has captured attention during lockdown, particularly due to a Scottish postman, Nathan Evans, who posted his performance of "Wellerman" on TikTok last year. The video has now been viewed more than 8 million times and it sparked a worldwide trend known as "ShantyTok."</p>.<p>Music stars seized on the trend and performed their own versions. Pop singers Gary Barlow and Ronan Keating sang it together, while the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber made a TikTok video of himself playing a keyboard accompaniment.</p>.<p>Evans puts the song's popularity down to lockdown, saying that shanties were originally sung to "bring everybody together" and this strikes a chord when people are isolated.</p>.<p>"Especially in this time when everybody's stuck at home, they're doing their remote working - they can join in, and it kind of brings everybody together," he said this week.</p>.<p>Evans has now signed a record deal with Polydor and released his own version of "Wellerman" as a single this week.</p>
<p> A 19th-century sea shanty has landed a spot in the UK top 40 as the traditional sailor songs are enjoying a new wave of popularity thanks to the popular short video app TikTok.</p>.<p>The song "Wellerman" performed by The Longest Johns, a band from Bristol in western England, is now at No. 37, in the Official Chart, which takes into account streaming of music.</p>.<p>The song is also at No. 1 in Spotify's viral 50, which includes social media shares, in the United States and the United Kingdom and at No.2 globally.</p>.<p>"Wellerman" is believed to have been written in New Zealand in the mid-19th century and tells the tale of sailors waging an epic battle with a whale they are hunting.</p>.<p>The traditional genre has captured attention during lockdown, particularly due to a Scottish postman, Nathan Evans, who posted his performance of "Wellerman" on TikTok last year. The video has now been viewed more than 8 million times and it sparked a worldwide trend known as "ShantyTok."</p>.<p>Music stars seized on the trend and performed their own versions. Pop singers Gary Barlow and Ronan Keating sang it together, while the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber made a TikTok video of himself playing a keyboard accompaniment.</p>.<p>Evans puts the song's popularity down to lockdown, saying that shanties were originally sung to "bring everybody together" and this strikes a chord when people are isolated.</p>.<p>"Especially in this time when everybody's stuck at home, they're doing their remote working - they can join in, and it kind of brings everybody together," he said this week.</p>.<p>Evans has now signed a record deal with Polydor and released his own version of "Wellerman" as a single this week.</p>