Social media is a nightmare for many reasons, but it’s been pretty handy for music discovery in the past several years. For example, TikTok is continually instrumental in bringing in a newer, younger audience to established acts.
Here are four songs that went viral on social media, leading to a flood of new fans.
“Harness Your Hopes” by Pavement
Pavement’s “Harness Your Hopes” was a B-side initially released on the CD version of their 1999 EP Spit on a Stranger. Originally recorded around 1997 and essentially left to collect dust, “Harness Your Hopes” found new life on social media in 2017. It surpassed “Cut Your Hair” as Pavement’s most-played song on Spotify and, in 2020, went viral on TikTok. Currently, “Harness Your Hopes” has roughly 188 million more streams than “Cut Your Hair”. This resurgence led Pavement to make a music video in preparation for the 2022 reissue of Spit on a Stranger. It went from basically a throwaway song to Pavement’s most popular track by a huge margin.
“Cherry Waves” by Deftones
Around the end of 2022, Deftones saw a flood of new fans after a handful of their songs went viral on TikTok. Several hits gained traction on social media, but a big one was “Cherry Waves” from the 2006 album Saturday Night Wrist. At the time, the album was positively received for its wash of heady, atmospheric sound and overall improvement from their previous album. In contemporary times, Deftones’ visceral and sludgy work struck a chord with alternative Gen Z kids on TikTok. From there, the songs spread like wildfire on the app. The exposure helped introduce a much younger audience to the uniquely blended alt-slowcore-metal sound.
“QKThr” by Aphex Twin
Similar to Deftones, Aphex Twin gained a newer, younger following for his atmospheric work. TikTok is obsessed with aesthetics, and songs like “QKThr” and “#3” seemed to scratch that itch. In 2023, a TikTok trend called “corecore” emerged, as confusing to explain as it is to read about. Essentially, corecore consists of pessimistic but unrelated videos edited together in the hope of saying something nihilistically profound about loneliness, depression, or self-esteem. Aphex Twin became the soundtrack to corecore, apparently, which brought a wave of new fans. Existing fans saw this as somewhat of a plus, however. Instead of gatekeeping their notoriously reclusive guy, the general consensus is, the more the merrier. Or, to put it simply, “TikTok bad. Aphex Twin promotion good.”
“Mary On A Cross” by Ghost
“Mary On A Cross” started out as a B-side on Ghost’s 2019 EP Seven Inches of Satanic Panic. After it was featured in a fan video about Stranger Things, the song went viral on TikTok in 2022. Since the resurgence, “Mary On A Cross” became Ghost’s most-played song on Spotify. In August 2022, it was boosted to 47 million streams. As of January 2026, it’s at a whopping 870 million. Unlike a lot of viral TikTok songs, this one (and many others on this list) wasn’t associated with a specific trend. It was mostly included in aesthetic videos, more vibe curation than a video template. To this day, “Mary On A Cross” continues to bring new fans to the richly crafted world of Ghost.
Photo by Paul Bergen/Getty Images
The post 4 Unexpected Songs That Went Viral on Social Media appeared first on VICE.
