Where do you discover music? The answer for Americans aged 12 and up is becoming increasingly apparent: online. Forty percent find it on Instagram, 36% say TikTok, and 32% say Facebook. But whatever platform they use, social media is fueling music discovery.
Let’s take a trip down the information superhighway to learn how some of your favorite artists went viral (and take some tips home for yourself, you future viral star).
Musicians Who Went Viral (and How You Can Do It, Too)
One day, they’re everywhere, seemingly from nowhere. Here’s the story of how seven artists managed to find themselves top-of-mind, if only for a moment. (Remember, you need a plan to give you staying power should you be lucky enough to strike viral gold.)
1. Lil Nas X
“Old Town Road” started with just $30 and a dream. Just 19 years old, Montero Lamar Hill purchased a beat from Beatstars and recorded a song with a new sound, a mix of country and hip-hop. But it didn’t become an overnight success when he released it on SoundCloud.
Instead, Lil Nas X spent the following months doing everything he could to promote it online: live-streaming video games with his song in the background, overlaying it on a video of a cowboy dancing and sparking tons of memes on Twitter, and working with the initial beatmaker on a Twitter campaign filled with memes sharing the song.
Those memes spread from Twitter to the greater online universe — including TikTok, obvi. TikTokers came through and helped propel Lil Nas X to fame, creating the YeeHaw Challenge, where they’d share videos of themselves turning into the cowboys that they always knew, deep down, they were meant to be.
2. Walker Hayes
Walker Hayes wasn’t unknown when he went viral, but you might say he was
“underknown.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hayes and his family started posting TikTiks with choreographed dances to the songs on his EP — and we all know how much TikTok loves a good choreographed dance.
He had previously released two albums, the first of which resulted in him breaking up with Capitol Records and working at Costco. The second made it on the Billboard Hot 100, but it never cracked even the Top 50.
But when his song “Fancy Like” and the dance that went with it went viral, he got reacquainted with the Billboard charts again, this time reaching No. 3. Not too shabby.
3. Salem Ilese
Ladies, be honest — did you used to fantasize about a certain Disney prince (or princess)? Did you also enter into your first relationship and say, “Wait a minute. I thought he’d slay dragons for me, but I can’t even get him to do the dishes in real life?”
I’d argue that Salem Ilese went viral with “Mad at Disney” because she put words to what so many of us who grew up with Disney feel. Ilese’s management team said as much, claiming that because TikTok has a younger audience than other social media apps, TikTokers will relate very strongly to the Disney theme of the song.
But like Lil Nas X’s story, Salem Ilese didn’t go viral overnight. She’d spent years studying songwriting and being a songwriter before her breakout hit. And when it came to “Mad at Disney,” Ilese kept putting it out there. She posted herself alongside the song many times, gaining more traction each time.
To be completely transparent, it’s worth noting that Ilese’s management team had a whole mess of influencers who they got to post the song — a solid strategy that arguably helped a lot. But it’s also worth noting that she only got that management team from putting her song online by herself.
4. GAYLE
I’m sensing a trend: TikTok likes songs you can sing when you’re mad at your ex and romance in general. So, maybe that’s why “ABCDEFU” became such a smash hit. But…that may not be the only reason it went viral.
Just 17 at the time, GAYLE posted a TikTok asking for songwriting ideas. The idea she supposedly went with came from one Nancy Berman, who asked her to write a breakup song using the alphabet. GAYLE said, “Bet.” And then, she shared a video of the song, which quickly topped the charts after its official release from Atlantic Records.
Sounds like destiny, right? Well, maybe not so much. Nancy Berman is a marketing manager for Atlantic Records, a fact that came out later. Though the stunt was deemed by many as a marketing ploy, Atlantic Records says it was just a playful comment since both Berman and GAYLE knew the song was about to drop.
Call it marketing. Call it two friends supporting each other. But whatever you call it, it worked to create a story about the song’s release — and we all love a good story.
5. CHINCHILLA
If you’re feeling a little down that the past two artists got by with a little help from their friends (aka management team), the story of how CHINCHILLA’s “Little Girl Gone” went viral should cheer you up. This female rage anthem went viral only after CHINCHILLA ditched her management team and label. Now free to put her music out the way she wanted, she took to TikTok.
CHINCHILLA had been releasing music for years, but she never had the kind of success she had with “Little Girl Gone.” It all comes back to relatability and music conveying the right message at the right time. The song became a female empowerment anthem, with women playing it over their videos to show how they defied expectations. If you’ve ever been in a room as a woman and felt like no one was listening to you, this is the song you scream back at them.
6. Mae Stephens
We can learn two lessons from Mae Stephens. First, if you think you look silly on TikTok, you’re probably doing something right. The second is that, sometimes, last-minute ideas without much planning are the best ideas.
Stephens hit it big on TikTok with her hit “If We Ever Broke Up.” This fact conveniently leads to the third lesson (one you may have guessed from previous entries on this list): TikTok loves a break-up anthem.
Stephens was just 19 and working at a supermarket when she decided to play a clip of her single “If We Ever Broke Up” on TikTok. It wasn’t a planned “drop,” and the video didn’t take long to create. She wore a sweater, broke out some dance moves, and posted the clip — which went viral. Putting yourself out there is key because you’ll never go viral if you don’t share your stuff in the first place; a management team isn’t going to parachute into your room and offer you a deal.
(It does help if you have a super catchy song that functions as a giant middle finger for your ex.)
7. Benson Boone
Once again, another viral hit started because a musician was brave enough to put their music out there. For Benson Boone, who had reached the Billboard Hot 100 before but never cracked into even the Top 75, he believed in his music enough to tease it to his growing TikTok audience. Boone teased “Beautiful Things” before its release and let it gain traction on TikTok before it hit the music streaming platforms.
Putting the song out into the TikTokverse was one reason why it was able to go viral. Still, it’s also worth considering the relatability of the lyrics and how they lend themselves to TikTok videos. In the song, Boone sings about the people who make life worthwhile and how much he always wants them to stay. It’s a meaningful, somewhat bittersweet song that touches the heartstrings, which is why over 4 million TikTok creators took to the song and used it to show what makes their lives worth living.
So, What’s the Lesson?
Say it with us: Put yourself out there! Most people who went viral on this list weren’t overnight successes, and their first viral hit wasn’t the first song they had ever created. They never gave up after their first (or first 100) flops.
Putting yourself out there online can be scary. No one likes to feel judged, and putting your music on TikTok is an easy way to be judged by thousands of people all at once. The distance of the screen can make people cruel. And you might feel silly or even have, dare we say the words, imposter syndrome.
But you are a musician. And you have a story to tell. Let people hear it.
(Need help with the next step after going viral? We’ve got you.)