Thad Cockrell's 'Swingin'' Hits #1 on iTunes

Nashville's Thad Cockrell had the biggest week of his two decade career last week following his viral appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and TODAY. Cockrell performed his single "Swingin'" on The Tonight Show with the Roots at the special request of Fallon, who fell in love with the song after Shazaming it at a hardware store, a story he related on the show. "It became my anthem," Fallon said. "Because I'm like, when you want to give up, don't give up! If you're going to go down, you go down swingin'! This is my anthem, I love this song."

Cockrell's story moved the team at TODAY, who invited him on the show, where he was interviewed by Carson Daly, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Hoda Kotb, and Craig Melvin, who called him "a bonafide star." Cockrell talked about the pandemic squashing his 2020 touring plans and considering giving up on music and bottling and selling hot sauce before getting the call about The Tonight Show. "It was absolutely incredible," he said.

Cockrell's moving TODAY interview made a huge and immediate impact - "Swingin'" leapt to the top of iTunes' Songs chart that morning, staying at #1 for two days. Fallon raved about the song taking off on the show and on social media and even gave an interview with People about it, saying, "I freaked out... it went to No. 1. I almost started crying. This is the coolest thing. Everyone is so elated here at the show. Everyone's dancing around like, 'Wow. This is so awesome.'"

Photo Credit: Jeremy Cowart