FEATURE

How Benson Boone Leveraged TikTok to Skyrocket to Global #1

If you’re up to date on social media trends, Benson Boone is likely a name that’s popped up on your screen more than once lately. The US artist, who is signed to Warner Records has been making waves recently, across both charts and short-form video platforms.

He’s an American Idol dropout who’s social media popularity continues to rise. He also currently holds the world #1 with his single “Beautiful Things”.

This is how he got there:

Teasing the single

Benson Boone is no stranger to the short-form teaser. Take a look at his Instagram and TikTok accounts and you’ll see that he’s a consistent, regular poster who offers a range of sneak peaks to his audience.

In the lead up to the “Beautiful Things” release, he shared a number of teasers and BTS content. With the help of Warner’s viral and marketing teams - the single has amassed 2.7 million+ uses on TikTok.

bensonboone

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@bensonboone

JANUARY 19th SONG & VIDEO

@bensonboone

THIS SONG COULD BE #1 IM DOING A RELEASE PARTY TONIGHT WHERE SHOULD I FLY TO DO IT

Not only is Benson Bone’s content visually appealing, it’s thematically consistent with his music. By sharing effective visuals across his social channels, and in the official video “Beautiful Things”, the artist has accentuated an already widely appealing release.

Following up the release

After releasing “Beautiful Things” on January 19, Benson Boon continued building on the track’s momentum by reposting and stitching some of the most viral videos shared alongside his music.

@bensonboone

@Dabestdest this is the most precious video😭

@bensonboone

Legendary mustache. #newmusic

@bensonboone

@MariamMarksArt no words but i love this

In addition to the initial release, Benson Boone shared Beautiful Things (Alternate Versions) a month later. The EP contains six different versions of the single.

A modern release timeline

Slightly ahead of the release of “Beautiful Things”, Benson Boone began teasing his next single “Slow It Down”, in a move that reminds us that TikTok trends move fast, and now releases do too.

That’s not to say that TikTok is the only platform where Benson Boone has seen success, the full music video for “Beautiful Things” was shared on the single release date, and while it could’ve been easy for the track’s significant to be reduced to a TikTok snippet, the full length video has 1.7 million views and 555.4 million+ streams on Spotify.

The Takeaway

Two weeks ago, Benson Boone shared his debut studio album “Fireworks & Rollerblades” which debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 charts. He’s taken the record on the road and will continue to do so with his world tour which has completely sold out dates up until September.

Benson Boone’s recent success shows us what can be achieved when a bonafide career artist combines their music with a strategy that leans into the popularity of short-form video.

^{Written by Olivia Gliku}

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