The Night We Met, Evergreen and more 2010s songs that became sleeper hits 
2025-01-26
Category: entertainment

When the lists of the most successful songs of 2024 in the charts, streaming and social media were revealed recently, they included the expected big hitters and some evergreen classics. But sprinkled among them was a different type of hit song.A number of tracks that failed to make a big impact when they were first released, mostly in the 2010s, have since bubbled up and become firm favourites.The rise of these slow-burning sleeper hits in recent years is "one of the most fascinating trends right now", says Stuart Dredge, head of insight at Music Ally.Here is our guide to the biggest 2010s sleeper hits.
The Night We Met - Lord Huron (2015)
This song only reached number 77 in the UK at the time of release, but was the 60th most popular song in 2024, according to the Official Charts Company's end-of-year list - above Charli XCX's biggest track. It was even higher on Spotify's global end-of-year chart, at 24. The LA folk-rock group's song first took off after being used in the 13 Reasons Why soundtrack in 2018, and with aching lyrics harking back to the start of a relationship, it has since been recycled in various TikTok memes and Molly-Mae Hague's pregnancy announcement video in 2022 (even though it's actually a break-up song). Cosmopolitan put it top of its playlist of Sad Songs to Blast When You're Feeling Hella Moody.
Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood (2012)
This one reached the US top 20 but missed the UK top 40. It has snowballed on social media and is now the seventh most-streamed song in Spotify history, spending more than three years in total in its global daily top 50. The California band says the autumnal theme made it an "accidental seasonal hit", and it has also been adopted as a bisexual anthem.
Champagne Coast - Blood Orange (2011)
Champagne Coast didn't chart originally but British singer Dev Hynes' seductive "come to my bedroom" refrain was used in TV show Euphoria's soundtrack in 2019, and then the song blew up on TikTok last summer. It was the most popular old song on the platform in 2024 and sixth overall on Billboard's end-of-year TikTok chart. It finally reached the UK top 20 in July.
Evergreen - Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners (2017)
Evergreen is just 87 seconds long and didn't chart originally, but became the go-to song for "hopecore" videos offering snippets of positivity and optimism on TikTok last year. It spent 35 weeks in the UK top 60 in 2024, and was in the overall end-of-year top 100.
Lovely - Billie Eilish (2018)
Released on the 13 Reasons Why soundtrack, this track didn't reach the UK or US top 40s, but Eilish's delicate duet with Khalid is now her most-streamed song, and 14th on Spotify's all-time list. It is apparently, among other things, good for sending you to sleep.
I Wanna Be Yours - Arctic Monkeys (2013)
I Wanna Be Yours was on the hit AM album but only reached 99 in the UK as a single. However, last year it had more Spotify plays than any other song over a decade old. TikTok users have chosen the melodramatic chorus to soundtrack their romantic declarations.
The Sound of Silence - Disturbed (2015)
This track is hard rock band Disturbed's brooding but beautiful cover of the Simon and Garfunkel classic. It has now spent eight months in the UK top 60 in the past year, helped by a dance remix and a TikTok shuffle dance trend.
See You Again by Tyler, the Creator (2017)
See You Again didn't chart at the time but took off on TikTok (where else?), with one snippet turning into a personality quiz (do you sing along with Tyler's "OK OK OK OK" or guest vocalist Kali Uchis' "La la la la"?). The song finally reached number 21 in the UK in 2023, and was the 19th most-streamed song on Spotify in the US in 2024.
Songs from all eras have been resurfacing for several years, of course.Many were hits to start with. Mr Brightside by The Killers (2004) is a fixture, while Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill (1985) and Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Murder on the Dancefloor (2001) shot back up the charts thanks to TV and film soundtracks.But when it comes to songs that weren't as big the first time around, the 2010s dominate.One reason is that people who grew up in those years are introducing their favourite tunes to others, according to Sarah Kloboves from music data analysts Chartmetric."This revival is pioneered by these older Gen Z listeners [in their mid-20s]. But when they start to create these trends, you also have the younger Gen Zs and even Gen Alpha [young teens and below] that are hearing these songs for the first time - the release date is interesting because it's old, but it's not too old."
Dredge agrees: "A lot of the influencers on places like TikTok are a few years older, so they are probably using songs from the 2010s that soundtracked their teenage years."Taylor Swift's Cruel Summer (2019) could even be described as a sleeper hit - it wasn't released as an official single at the time, but eventually reached number one in 2023 and was the fifth-biggest song of 2024 overall on Apple Music.Others, though, are not such obvious hits. Musically, most sound quite restrained and atmospheric - they're emotive soundtrack songs rather than upbeat bangers or full-blooded anthems."These aren't songs that were released with the intention of being a pop hit," Kloboves says."Not to bash on pop music or pop stars, but sometimes they all sort of sound the same. But I think a lot of these songs are very different from what you might usually hear in the mainstream," she says."I think that's why listeners really resonate with them, because they're slightly unique and different-sounding."
Eight more sleeper hits:Pink + White by Frank Ocean (2016)No Role Modelz by J Cole (2014)Jocelyn Flores by XXXTentacion (2017)All I Want by Kodaline (2012)Lovers Rock by TV Girl (2014)Space Song by Beach House (2015)Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex (2017)Freaks by Surf Curse (2013)
Many of these songs owe their belated success to TikTok, and tracks that take off "evoke some kind of emotional response" in the listener, the platform's UK head of music partnerships Toyin Mustapha believes."It's having something that emotionally resonates. That could be a lyric. It could be the way that the instrumental lands."And our relationship with music has changed. When packaging songs with clips on social media, fans are choosing them as soundtracks to evocative moments. "It's no longer passive listening," Mustapha adds. "People are really active participants in the culture. And they're active because they are taking this music and essentially reimagining it in their own way."
Record labels do try to help back-catalogue songs become sleeper hits, but it normally happens organically thanks to fans, Dredge says."One of the things you can see is it's songs that lend themselves to a feeling or mood. It often is a particular line from the song that is the thing that is picked up on and goes viral," he says."There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it other than they suddenly feel relevant to someone in a way that other people appreciate."Sometimes, it's simply that a great song didn't get the attention it deserved at the time: "Part of it is just that a brilliant song can connect with people, no matter how long ago it was made."