Earlier this week, Migos and Lil Uzi Vert’s playfully decadent “Bad and Boujee” dethroned Rae Sremmurd and Gucci Mane’s “Black Beatles” for the top spot on the Hot 100. Migos’ first No. 1 is notable not just because it replaces another rap song—a feat not done since 2015—but because the real force behind both of these hits comes from memes.

The ongoing connection between going viral and getting a hit has come into focus over the last few years, since Billboard started incorporating data from streaming services and YouTube into the Hot 100 formula in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Artists who once courted pop radio are now spending time figuring out how to repackage more left-field singles into meme fodder. Hits not filtered through the established pop machine could be a cause for celebration, but these methods are starting to become just as tied up in the major label system.

Back in 2007, when Soulja Boy released the official video for his future hit “Crank That,” the clip depicted two little boys dancing to the song in front of a record executive, who was confused as to what possessed them. They exclaimed Soulja Boy’s name and the exec spent the video searching for the teen rapper. A decade later, that brief opening continues to show how online trends work, especially in rap. The list below highlights how rap hits have shifted their approach to going viral as social media has evolved.

Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” // Myspace + YouTube // 2007

A forward-thinking 17-year-old, Soulja Boy saw little purpose in passing out burned CDs around school. Instead he envisioned success by uploading his music to Myspace, still in its mid-2000s peak. The choice not to underestimate early social media’s reach played a huge part in establishing music’s viral blueprint going forward. “Crank That” went beyond Myspace, once fans started uploading their own versions of the dance to YouTube. Songs capitalizing on and inspiring dance trends were nothing new, but Soulja Boy was the first to really spread his online. By the end of the 2007, the song had topped the Hot 100 and earned Soulja Boy a Grammy nomination. “I am Myspace. I am YouTube, Twitter, Facebook,” Soulja Boy boldly proclaimed in a 2014 Myspace profile. “I basically showed the music industry and the world the internet.” For a generation of internet natives that witnessed his rise, the brag feels appropriate.

PSY’s “Gangnam Style” // YouTube // 2012

If Soulja Boy proved the power of social media to hit-seekers, then PSY forced them to take streaming music seriously. The veteran K-Pop star became an instant sensation with this hyperactive quasi-rap song (he does rap in it) and still quite out-there video that reached a billion, then eventually two billion views on YouTube—so much that it actually broke YouTube’s view counter. The video’s preposterous numbers, in part, eventually led Billboard to factor YouTube into Hot 100 metrics alongside radio airplay, digital downloads, and spins on streaming services. Even as “Gangnam Style” has left the pop’s consciousness, its effects on the industry remain.

Sage the Gemini’s “Gas Pedal” + “Red Nose” // Vine // 2013

With his initial singles “Gas Pedal” and “Red Nose,” reserved Bay Area rapper Sage the Gemini ended up being written out of his own success story. The hashtags #gaspedal and #rednose spread on Vine throughout 2013, with six-second clips of kids, often white, in a post-Miley haze joyfully twerking to his songs. The videos that spread never featured Sage’s face and his disembodied voice certainly wasn’t enough to meaningfully connect with fans. The memes overshadowed the songs and Sage’s already thin persona, but unlike most, he did manage to capture lightning in a bottle twice, with “Red Nose” hitting No. 52 and “Gas Pedal” hitting No. 29 on the Hot 100.

Bobby Shmurda’s “Hot Nigga” // Vine // 2014

If Vine popularity pushed Sage the Gemini out of the spotlight, the soon-to-die app cast too much light on Brooklyn rapper Bobby Shmurda. In early 2014, he released the video for “Hot Nigga,” which became the summer’s internet phenomenon once people started crafting Vines of Shmurda’s “Shmoney Dance” paired with other songs. Yet “Hot Nigga” still reaped some chart benefits, peaking at No. 6. But the videos effectively turned Shmurda into a humorous recurring dance loop that ceased to be funny when he and his crew were arrested on weapon possession charges. The summer’s favorite meme was, by the following winter, another story of black youths stuck fighting for their freedom and leaving fans not to dance, but instead chant “Free Bobby.”

Silento’s “Watch Me” // YouTube // 2015

Nearly a decade after Soulja Boy, another Atlanta teenager captured the American imagination with a dance craze. Silento’s song “Watch Me” referenced the Whip and Nae Nae dances and even alluded to “Crank That,” showing that Silento knew his own roots. Only a year after the rise of Shmurda, “Watch Me” showed just how quickly the music industry caught up to the power of virality. Where memes around “Hot Nigga” spawned naturally, Silento’s saw inflated numbers through the companies TuneCore and DanceOn, who created #WatchMeDanceOn promotion to spur the creation of YouTube videos for the song even before Silento signed a major label deal. Silento might’ve referenced “Crank That,” but even Soulja Boy didn’t have an army of professional YouTubers with his back.

iLoveMemphis’ “Hit the Quan” // Instagram // 2015

Vine birthed original memes, but Instagram’s introduction of 15-second videos disrupted the meme marketplace. iLoveMemphis profited from this shake-up with his dance song “Hit the Quan,” which was inspired by a live performance by Rich Homie Quan. iLoveMemphis gave Quan’s dance an instruction song (“Get down low and swing your arms”) and a hashtag (#hitthequanchallenge), and watched the song slowly spread across the country. Memphis had previously whiffed with his attempts at viral hits and eventually hit gold, but the internet made sure another party benefited from his calculated song borrowing from another: “Hit the Quan” was a Top 20 hit, but the majority of the song’s YouTube views have gone to dancer/videographer King Imprint (69 million) rather than iLoveMemphis himself (who’s racked up 40 million). Karma, man.

Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” ft. Gucci Mane // Twitter // 2016

Rae Sremmurd’s second album, Sremmlife 2, was on track to fall victim to the sophomore slump. The songwriting was there, but it lacked a signature single. Then arrived the #mannequinchallenge. Since the #hitthequanchallenge, numerous other challenges came and went (#runningmanchallenge, #doitlikemchallenge, #sofargonechallenge), but once “Black Beatles”was added to an early #mannequinchallenge video, both the song and the meme took off. The spread of the challenge was strengthened by Pizzaslime, a blog turned marketing brand that, along with Sremmurd’s team, cemented “Black Beatles” as the meme’s soundtrack and eventually helped it reach a six-week run at No. 1. More an ode to rockstar shenanigans than the Fab Four, it didn’t stop Paul McCartney from showing he, too, could keep up with memes (so long as he is personally invoked in them).

Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” // Twitter // 2017

A few years ago, many on Twitter joked about the idea of Atlanta trio Migos being better than the Beatles, so the irony wasn’t lost when “Band and Boujee” toppled “Black Beatles” for No. 1. Where Soulja Boy conquered social media, Migos mastered riding its turbulent waves. Offset’s opening lines of “raindrops / drop-tops” became the perfect memeable canvas to paint jokes, while Twitter footage of them performing to a raucous Nigerian crowd helped to cement the song’s rise. And the success of “Bad and Boujee” is likely to continue, after Donald Glover gave the song a massive shout-out during his Golden Globes speech last weekend.