TikTok craze sends 19th-century song about antipodean whalers into pop charts, with further success expected next week for Scottish postman Nathan Evans’s rendition
The biggest meme of 2021 – at least until Bernie Sanders’ mittens came along – has translated into UK chart success, as the song at the heart of the sea shanty craze debuts in the Top 40.
Wellerman, with its infectious chorus heralding the arrival of “sugar, tea and rum”, reaches No 37 this week, via a version by the Bristol vocal group the Longest Johns.
