TikTok has already claimed a major role in the global breakthrough by Lil Nas X.
Now the short-form mobile video platform has helped to power DJ Regard's Ride It to within touching distance of the UK singles chart summit.
The 20-second clip for the Kosovo-based DJ's remix of 2008 Jay Sean track Ride It has racked up 4.1 million organic videos generated by users, including famous fans such as Lewis Capaldi. Around 230,000 new videos used the song as backtrack last week.
Following the track's success among the TikTok community, Sony's Ministry of Sound Recordings signed and released Regard’s version of Ride It in July 2019. In the first week, the track hit 1 million Spotify streams and shot into Shazam charts around the world. It is now on 25m Spotify streams.
The track was at No.2 on the Official Charts Company's First Look chart at the weekend and is set for a strong showing this week. Ride It has had airplay support from BBC Radio 1, Asian Network, Kiss FM and Hits Radio.
Farhad Zand, head of music partnerships, TikTok Europe, said: “DJ Regard is yet another great example of how TikTok can support artists by providing a platform to promote their songs to a global audience. We are very proud to be part of this success supporting the artist in securing a record deal.”
Ministry MD Dipesh Parmar said: “We monitored the initial success of the song on TikTok and then signed very early on, cleared and released. We didn’t know whether the audience would initially convert to DSPs but we could see an instant reaction which was unprecedented. The challenge was then to broaden to a new audience working with all our media partners to convey the story. It’s an explosive start that we hope to take all the way on a global level. The power of TikTok is undeniable."
Jay Sean said: “Ride It has always been a special song for me as it marked the beginning of a new era in my career and defined a style that became my signature sound. Its resurgence 12 years later through this smooth house mix and TikTok has made it a hit once again! Props to DJ Regard for tastefully reinventing one of the favourite songs, he did a great job at transcending it into a whole other genre without taking away any of the soulfulness and sexiness from the original. It’s been so fun to see it growing around the world.”
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