Caroline Tompkins
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January: Alex Warren
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave From late 2019 to 2022, pop singer-songwriter Alex Warren was a major player in Hype House, a popular group of TikTok creators that frequently collaborated and lived together. Even before it disbanded, he’d begun to pivot into a music career. Last May, during a set of studio sessions, he created the piano-backed ode to resilence “Burning Down,” which arrived in September through Atlantic Records and has since become his first Billboard Hot 100 hit.
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February: The Marías
Image Credit: Caroline Tompkins Considering the sighing production, murmured harmonies and somber lyrical tone as The Marías’ frontwoman María Zardoya pleads with a lover for attention and reassurance, “No One Noticed” understandably did not lead the indie-pop band’s second album, Submarine, upon its release last May. Yet in the months since, the song has transformed into a viral breakthrough and the band’s biggest hit to date, cracking the top five of Billboard‘s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and The Marías first solo Hot 100 entry.
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March: Leon Thomas
Image Credit: Raymond Alva For Leon Thomas, music and family have always been intertwined. His parents laid the musical foundation for the rock-infused soul he explores on Mutt, his sophomore album released last September. Its lead single, which shares its name with the project, is a funky R&B midtempo tune that showcases Thomas’ desire to “have a record that shows what I’m about: live music, funk and vulnerability.” Listeners connected in a big way: “Mutt” became Thomas’ first Hot 100 entry and has made waves at three different Billboard airplay rankings.
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April: Balu Brigada
Image Credit: Ashley Markle When they relocated to New York in 2023, brothers Pierre and Henry Beasley of alt-pop duo Balu Brigada certainly didn’t expect they’d end up sounding like a Big Apple band from 20 years earlier. But “So Cold” — a spiky, slinky and above all Strokes-y single the duo released in June 2024 — reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart and has the group drawing in droves of new fans, including those that they’ve accrued from their support on Twenty One Pilots’ worldwide Clancy tour.
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May: Role Model
Image Credit: Daniel Prakopcyk Throughout Role Model’s No Place Like Tour, he has welcomed one lucky fan onstage each show to dance around with the artist during the bridge of sun-kissed pop-rock song “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out.” That’s extended to famous friends, too — including Reneé Rapp, Bowen Yang and Conan Gray during various performances — and helped the song to become fodder both for viral moments on social media and a long-term hit at alternative radio as the singer-songwriter keeps the party going with his breakthrough hit.
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June: Mariah the Scientist
Image Credit: Carl Chisolm When it came time for Mariah the Scientist to unveil her first single of the year, the sultry “Burning Blue,” the R&B singer-songwriter was at a crossroads. “Mariah felt she was in a space between treating [music] like a hobby and this being her career,” recalls Morgan Buckles, the artist’s sister and manager. They crafted a curated, monthlong rollout — filled with snippets, TikTok posts encouraging fan interaction and various live performances — that helped the song go viral even before its early arrival. Upon its release, she scored her first solo Billboard Hot 100 entry and breakthrough hit.
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July: Max McNown
Image Credit: Diana King As singer-songwriter Max McNown prepared to release his country-folk love song “Better Me For You (Brown Eyes)” last November, he felt reluctant to share such a vulnerable single about his girlfriend of nearly two years. But the track quickly resonated with fans, becoming his first entry on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and the Billboard Hot 100 — and soon, his perspective changed. “I wasn’t expecting a song that is so specifically about my girlfriend to do so well,” he reflects. “It gives me a lot of encouragement to keep writing personal songs about my life.”
