On Dec. 3, 2018, 19-year-old Atlanta pop artist Lil Nas X opened up TikTok and uploaded his new song, "Old Town Road." The artist was used to making viral content on the internet, and that savvy was put to good use when his country trap tune quickly started taking over the social media app. Over the next few months, hundreds of thousands of TikTok users turned the song's chorus into a meme, posting videos of themselves drinking "yee yee" juice and wearing cowboy getups.
To chronicle its impact, Collabstr used data from Billboard to explore how TikTok is influencing popular music and the music industry at large. Data comes from the top 50 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and the TikTok Billboard Top 50, which ranks songs based on creations, video views, and engagement.
Some of these songs have risen organically through the app, but the music industry is now playing the game too. Marketers have targeted TikTok, hiring influencers to amplify songs and promote user-generated content from fans.
Three months later, Variety reported that both entities had reached a new deal to bring the label's music back to TikTok, with both companies stating they would "deliver improved remuneration for UMG's songwriters and artists, new promotional and engagement opportunities for their recordings and songs and industry-leading protections with respect to generative AI.