A 'Vine Star' Just Soared To The No. 1 Spot On iTunes In 37 Minutes - And You've Never Heard Of Him
The honest answer is probably not. But get this: the 15-year-old Vine star (he has a massive following on the video-sharing platform that debuted in February 2013) released his first album Sunday night. And thanks to his loyal fans, Mendes rose to the top of the iTunes album charts in under 40 minutes.
Mashable reports Mendes launched a livestream late Sunday night in anticipation of his album hitting iTunes and "urged the viewers to tweet "#ShawnToNumber1."
Within 37 minutes, he was there, earning the top spot on the iTunes Top Albums chart.
iTunes
"Meanwhile, the hashtag became Twitter's top trending topic as his army of 1.5 million followers rallied in support," Mashable states.
It's a pretty incredible accomplishment for a teenager who isn't privvy to the same spotlight as his boy band-esque competitors like Justin Bieber or more recently, a group called 5 Seconds Of Summer (bumped by Mendes to the #2 spot on iTunes.)
Mendes, who got his start after posting a 6-second clip of Bieber's "As Long As You Love Me" and went viral overnight, gaining 10,000 likes and tons of followers.
More clips followed (like this one of Beyonce's "Drunk In Love"), and Island Records signed him.
For $3.99, his album carries his first single called "Life Of The Party."
He now has over 2.9 million followers on Vine, where he still posts covers and clips of his original songs.
David Massey, president of Island Records, talked to Mashable about Mendes' success:
I mean the Vine thing completely misleads you in terms of what is the serious ability that he has. The Vine part of it is the way that he got discovered, as a way that he built a fan base, which is absolutely wonderful, but what the results should send is he's a serious star.
