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Agree! In fact, I'd argue that a v2 of this project, where I look at the features of songs with high longevity (e.g., No Diggity) were driven by samples/covers/Glee/etc.

Yea, it'd even be interesting to compare a song's play count over time to it being featured in popular movie soundtracks, etc.

Was thinking the same thing, but also for a current cover to catch on there is likely something about the original that still resonates.

One nitpick: "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls was ineligible for the Billboard Hot 100 for a long time due to their rules that songs had to be sold as a "single" to be counted on that chart. It was #1 in terms of radio airplay for a huge chunk of 1998, so it's not really accurate to say it didn't chart highly at the time.

Ah. Didn't realize that. Billboard data, generally, is terribly inaccurate in terms of a measure of cultural popularity...back in the day, they used to call radio stations to ask what their top 10 were. But it's the best we've got in terms of data.

Chet Faker released a cover of No Diggity a few years ago

This doesn't add a single thing to the discussion, but it's a great cover too.