In 2007, Bieber became the poster child of what social media can do when he was discovered by his manager, Scooter Braun, on YouTube. The singer was known by his small YouTube following as kidrauhl, a 13-year-old aspiring musician who posted covers of hits like Chris Brown’s “With You.” The covers quickly led to a meeting with Usher and a recording contract, and the rest is history.
Before she was gracing the covers of GQ and Sports Illustrated, Upton was a struggling model. Her big break came when a friend posted a YouTube video of her doing the “dougie” at a basketball game in 2011. The video eventually went viral, leading Upton’s Twitter followers to jump by 200,000 basically overnight. Since then, Upton has been a working model-actress with a burgeoning movie career and campaigns with Guess and Victoria’s Secret under her belt.
Long before his breakout single “Stitches” was played on repeat on every radio station in America, Mendes was a Canadian teen posting six-second Vine clips in his bedroom. After a Vine of him singing Justin Bieber‘s “As Long as You Love Me” went viral, Mendes’s internet presence grew, with his followers rising exponentially. Soon after, he caught the attention of Island Records, which signed him in 2014. With two No. 1 albums and a tour with Taylor Swift, Mendes has successfully transitioned from online personality to industry-recognized star.
When he was first starting out, Abel Tesfaye posted his first videos on a YouTube account with the username “xoxxxoooxo,” identifying himself as The Weeknd. No one knew anything about him, including whether he was just one person or a group, but “What You Need” quickly got the attention of music aficionados, and it didn’t take long before Drake tweeted the free download link to The Weeknd’s first mixtape, House of Balloons. After a few mixtapes, a record deal, and many smash singles, The Weeknd has completely shed his YouTube past and transitioned it into Grammy-winning success.
As a teenager, Cara would sit in her bedroom after school recording stripped-down versions of her favorite songs and post them to YouTube. The acoustic videos quickly caught the attention of a viewer whose father happened to be the head of EP Entertainment. After his daughter showed him Cara’s videos, the singer’s career skyrocketed to a handful of hit singles and a song on the 2016 Disney film “Moana.”
Sivan began as a YouTube personality, alongside other internet names like Tyler Oakley and Marcus Butler. In between vlogs and small videos about his life, Sivan would post the occasional cover, which eventually landed him a record deal.His first EP, “TRXYE,”released in 2014, caught the eye of Taylor Swift, who posted his songs on her Instagram. If there’s any way to know you’ve truly made it, it’s when Swift posts your song on social media.
After a rejection on season 9 of “American Idol,” Kelly turned to YouTube to build her career. Like some of the other names on this list, she started recording covers in her bedroom. After covers of songs like Justin Timberlake’s “Suit and Tie” hit the multimillion-view mark, Kelly caught the eye of Justin Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, who signed her to a deal. And after her 2016 Grammy nomination for best new artist, Kelly definitely owes a special thanks to YouTube.
Beer’s career began on YouTube and the lip-syncing app Music.ly. In 2012, at 13 years old, Beer was discovered by Justin Bieber after he shared a video of her singing Etta James’s “At Last” to his millions of Twitter followers. The encounter quickly caused Beer’s name to trend on Twitter and eventually caught the attention of Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, who signed her. Since then, Beer has had Bieber appear in her “Melodies” music video, Kylie Jenner lip sync her song, and Presley Gerber (brother of Kaia Gerber) star in another music video.
Before he made a name for himself as Blaine Anderson on “Glee,” Criss was part of the YouTube channel TeamStarKid, which he co-founded with a few of his friends from the University of Michigan. After the channel gained popularity, the actor was able to leverage his fame into other projects, like his breakout role on the FOX musical comedy.
In 2008, back when MySpace was a thing, Caillat used the platform to her advantage. The singer-songwriter drew thousands of viewers to her profile with covers and original music, and the attention quickly caught the eyes of the music industry. Now, two Grammys and collaborations with big names like Taylor Swift and Jason Mraz later, Caillat is likely looking back fondly at her MySpace days.