BY: Alexis Eichelberger

Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” has undeniably been the anthem of 2019. The genre-defying absurdly catchy smash hit broke Billboard’s record for the most consecutive weeks at number one on its Hot 100 list, and the rising star’s career has skyrocketed since. He’s continued his climb into fame with the release of a whopping four remixes of “Old Town Road” featuring different artists on each one, and released an EP of eight tracks (two of which are “Old Town Road”) in June.

But “Old Town Road” began as so many good things do –– as a meme. Inspired by a cowboy-affiliated trend on the internet, Lil Nas X released “Old Town Road” on SoundCloud early this year. It gained major traction when thousands began making short videos on TikTok set to the song. The rest is music history.

Here are four more songs that have taken off from the internet and risen on the charts:

Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up”

“The Git Up” is undeniably “Old Town Road” -informed, from its blending of country and hip hop to its rise thanks to TikTok. The dance tune and its ambiguous instructions inspired a hashtag and challenge, prompting an onslaught of videos showing TikTok-ers and others busting a move to the song. “The Git Up” is currently at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

 

PSY’s “Gangnam Style”

For the next viral hit, we throw it back to the original K-pop star to bring the genre westward. PSY’s “Gangnam Style” went viral beyond control in 2012. Its music video was the first YouTube video ever to reach 1 billion views, and it inspired countless other video posts by others imitating his inimitable dance moves, language barrier be damned.

“Gangnam Style” spent 31 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number two.

 

Ylvis’ “The Fox”

Ylvis, a Norweigan comedy duo, recorded and released “The Fox” in 2013 to promote a new season of its television show. The electronic dance song is absurd in lyric, melody and music video, but it blew up in the states and around the world, particularly on YouTube, where it was the top trending YouTube video for the entire year of 2013. It peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100.

 

Baauer’s “Harlem Shake”

Released in 2012, “Harlem Shake” is the only other internet sensation we’ve examined alongside “Old Town Road” that’s also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It also undoubtedly has the heaviest bassline of all of our meme to mainstream breakdowns. The song inspired thousands of video posts –– nearly 4000 a day in early 2013. Stars like LeBron James, Jimmy Fallon, and many more made videos of themselves and their comrades doing the erratic dance.