When Old Songs Become New Hits
Take Chappell Roan. Back in April 2020, she released “Pink Pony Club”, a heartfelt synth-pop anthem about self-discovery at a West Hollywood gay club. Initially, it flew under the radar. Fast forward to March 2025, and it's a Number 1 hit in the UK.
This resurgence is remarkable. Chappell Roan released her new single, "The Giver," last week while "Pink Pony Club" held the Number 1 spot on the UK Singles Chart. It was anticipated that she might replace herself at the top; however, "The Giver" debuted at Number 2, with "Pink Pony Club" moving to Number 4. This week, "Pink Pony Club" has climbed back to Number 2, while "The Giver" has dropped to Number 5, indicating the enduring popularity of the former. Current midweek chart projections suggest that this trend will persist, with "Pink Pony Club" maintaining a higher position than "The Giver."
Benson Boone's "Beautiful Things" Climbs Back Up the Charts
Following the massive success of "Beautiful Things", which reached number 1 in the UK in March 2024, Benson Boone released his new single, "Sorry I'm Here For Someone Else", on February 27, 2025. This track debuted at number 30 on the UK Official Singles Chart on March 13, 2025, and peaked at number 24 the following week.
Meanwhile, "Beautiful Things" experienced a remarkable resurgence. In early March 2025, the song jumped from position 33 to 6, possibly boosted by events like Valentine's Day or the Brit Awards. Since then, "Beautiful Things" has remained in the UK Top 10, consistently outperforming "Sorry I'm Here For Someone Else", which has not managed to climb higher than position 24.
This phenomenon underscores the ability of a song to maintain its popularity and relevance long after its initial release, especially when cultural events or awards rekindle public interest.
The TikTok & Streaming Explosion 🚀
One word: TikTok. A 15-second clip can launch a song from obscurity to ubiquity. TikTok has essentially become the new radio. Both “Pink Pony Club” and “Beautiful Things” owe a significant part of their success to TikTok virality and the subsequent streaming surge.
In Chappell Roan’s case, “Pink Pony Club” transformed into a sleeper hit thanks to TikTok and word-of-mouth buzz. Fans on TikTok shared the song’s emotional chorus, dressing up in cowboy hats and heels (mirroring the song’s lyrics) and spreading the vibe. What was once a forgotten 2020 release suddenly became a 2025 obsession.
Benson Boone built his fanbase on TikTok from the start—he teased “Beautiful Things” on the platform, and as it resonated with users, it exploded into a streaming phenomenon. Streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music then amplified that viral fire. Their algorithms noticed the trending song and added it to popular playlists, bringing in more listeners and boosting chart performance—a self-feeding loop.
Importantly, TikTok doesn’t consider a song’s release date. The app treats a banger from 2020 the same as one from 2025—if it’s catchy and fits a trend, it can blow up. This “level playing field” means younger listeners often don’t even realize a song is older; they just know they like it.
When a Hit Won’t Quit: Sleeper Hits & Fan Power
What we’re witnessing with these tracks is the rise of the sleeper hit—a song that takes its time to become popular, sometimes months or years. “Pink Pony Club” and “Beautiful Things” are textbook examples. They didn’t debut at #1; they climbed there long after release, defying the usual hype cycle.
“Pink Pony Club” initially sank upon its 2020 debut, and Chappell Roan was even dropped from her label that year for underperforming. But the song’s quality and its personal, authentic story gave it staying power. Gradually, a dedicated fanbase formed around it, sharing it online until it finally caught fire.
Similarly, “Beautiful Things” took nine weeks on the UK chart to reach #1. It wasn’t an immediate smash, but it had legs. Fans kept streaming it, radio picked it up more and more, and it just kept growing.
Sometimes, fans themselves give a song a second life. TikTok trends are often fan-driven—maybe a challenge, a heartfelt video, or a meme sparks new interest in a song. With Chappell Roan, her LGBTQ+ fan community embraced “Pink Pony Club” as an unofficial anthem, featuring it in drag shows, pride playlists, and more, which sustained its momentum.
Algorithmic playlists on streaming services also play a role. Once a song is trending, it might get into Spotify’s “Today’s Top Hits” or Apple Music’s big playlists, ensuring it reaches tens of millions. That can sustain an older track’s run for months. Meanwhile, a new release from the same artist might not instantly get that treatment unless it also goes viral or has heavy promotion.
New Singles vs. Ongoing Hits – Did Labels Mess Up?
All this raises a juicy question: Are record labels jumping the gun by pushing out new singles while the previous hit is still climbing? In the past, labels timed new releases carefully – you wouldn’t drop the next single if the current one was still hot. But in the streaming era, the playbook is being rewritten. In Benson Boone’s case, some observers wondered if releasing “Sorry I’m Here For Someone Else” so soon was a smart move, given that “Beautiful Things” was still in the Top 5 and gaining steam. The new song’s debut was comparatively low, suggesting listeners weren’t ready to move on from the old favorite yet. It’s possible the label hoped to capitalize on Benson’s surging popularity by offering new material – but it also risked cannibalizing streams from the hit that everyone was already loving.
For Chappell Roan, the timing was a bit more fortuitous. “Pink Pony Club” had been out for years and only hit #1 in 2025, so releasing “The Giver” then was perhaps an attempt to keep the momentum rolling. Even the Official Charts Company cheekily asked if she might replace herself at #1. In hindsight, the label might have let “Pink Pony Club” run its course before heavily promoting a follow-up. But who can blame them for wanting to strike while the iron’s hot? It’s a tricky balance: you don’t want an artist to be seen as a one-song wonder tied to an old track, so you introduce something new – yet you also don’t want to derail a song that could grow even bigger.
Ultimately, these situations highlight how unpredictable music consumption has become. Labels plan eras and singles, but the internet can hijack those plans. An old song might catch a trend and suddenly that’s the song of the moment, not the meticulously scheduled new release. It’s less a “misstep” and more a new reality of the industry. Some industry experts note that record companies now keep a close eye on TikTok and streaming data so they can pivot quickly. If an unexpected hit comes knocking, they’ll support it (for example, Chappell’s team re-released “Pink Pony Club” on her new album and even sent it to radio once it blew up). Still, the coordination isn’t always perfect, and we end up with odd chart scenarios like we have now.
More “Sleeper Hit” Success Stories 🔥
This trend isn’t just about Chappell Roan and Benson Boone – there are plenty of other songs lately proving that oldies can be goodies (even if “old” here means a couple of years). A few notable examples:
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Doechii – “What It Is (Block Boy)” / “Anxiety”: In 2023, rapper-singer Doechii had a TikTok-fueled hit with “What It Is (Block Boy).” But even more striking, an unreleased older track of hers called “Anxiety” went viral from a snippet. That song was originally floating around YouTube in 2019, and after a TikTok trend blew up, it finally got an official release in 2025 – instantly landing in the UK Top 5. Talk about a long journey to the charts!
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Lizzy McAlpine – “Ceilings”: This indie-pop ballad was an album track in 2022, not even a single at first. Then a TikTok trend in early 2023 (people filming themselves running dramatically to the song’s climactic bridge) sent “Ceilings” soaring. It became Lizzy’s breakout hit, peaking in the top 10 in the UK and Ireland and even making the Hot 100 in the US. Meanwhile, her actual new singles didn’t make nearly the same splash, as everyone was fixated on “Ceilings” and its emotional vibe.
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Glass Animals – “Heat Waves”: Not an “emerging” artist by the time it hit big, but worth mentioning: this song took 59 weeks to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 – the slowest climb ever. It shows that with streaming, a track can build gradually and eventually dominate long after release. During its rise, any new singles by the band were essentially on hold because “Heat Waves” was still the one listeners wanted.
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Miguel – “Sure Thing”: Originally released in 2010, this R&B jam found new life a decade later thanks to TikTok in 2022–2023. It suddenly appeared on global charts as if it were a new hit. While Miguel is an established artist, the phenomenon was similar – an old track overtaking the attention from his newer material, purely because a new generation discovered it online.
Taylor Swift – “Cruel Summer”: This track from Taylor’s 2019 album Lover was never released as an official single back when the album dropped. Yet, four years later, in 2023, “Cruel Summer” unexpectedly exploded thanks to TikTok virality, fan campaigns, and its euphoric, scream-it-in-your-car chorus. Suddenly, this overlooked gem surged onto charts worldwide, becoming one of Taylor’s biggest hits years after its release. It soared into the top 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped pop radio charts in the U.S. and UK, overshadowing some of the new singles she had recently released. Fans just couldn’t move on from the intoxicating, late-blooming summer anthem—even Taylor herself jokingly admitted the song’s resurgence had completely caught her off guard.
These examples underscore a key point: in the streaming and social media era, music doesn’t have an expiration date. A song’s trajectory might be completely nonlinear. It can drop off, then surge years later if conditions are right (a viral dance, a TV show sync, a meme, you name it). For newer artists, this can be a double-edged sword: that surprise hit can cement their breakthrough, but it can also overshadow their creative next steps until the fever dies down.
The New Norm?
It might feel against the rules for an artist’s old song to beat out their new single – but it’s becoming the new norm. Rather than a flop, it’s often a blessing in disguise. An older track with continued momentum means the artist’s fanbase is growing and people are digging into their catalog. It creates a foundation upon which future releases can succeed, even if there’s a brief disconnect timing-wise. Artists and labels are learning to adapt: some delay releasing the next single if a song starts blowing up unexpectedly, while others use the hype to promote the artist as a whole, even if the focus isn’t on the latest track.
At the end of the day, listeners drive the story now. Whether it’s through a TikTok trend, a streaming playlist, or a fan campaign, the crowd decides which song becomes a hit, regardless of release date. For those of us who love music, it’s actually pretty exciting – that song you adored from an up-and-coming artist that nobody knew about? It might just become a smash hit a year (or five) later, and you get to say you knew it before it was cool. Meanwhile, we’ll keep jamming to the tunes we love, old or new, and artists like Chappell Roan and Benson Boone will keep riding the unpredictable wave of modern music fame. In 2025, a great song never really dies – it just finds new ears. 🎧✨
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