Dylan Schneider's new radio single, "Ain't Missin' You," was a hit before he even finished the song.

In 2022, he was searching for social media content, so he brought a verse and chorus of the quasi-breakup track out and woke up to find it had 200,000 TikTok views overnight. So, he called Brett Tyler and Lalo Guzman back together to finish the track.

“It’s a lot of pressure," he tells Taste of Country, laughing, but not joking. “You don’t want to not deliver, because all they were listening to was that stripped-down demo … you don’t want to overdo it but you don’t want to underdo it.”

The official music video dropped 11 months ago and has netted more than a million YouTube views. Add another 13 million on Spotify and more on other streaming platforms, and it's clear Schneider and his team hit the mark. The Indiana native is a particular songwriter. That means it might take time for him to release new music. It also means he'll hit more than he misses.

That's part of making the turn from social media star to legitimate, commercial radio star. For most of a decade, he's been working at it. Taste of Country first covered Schneider in 2018 as he released a new, Florida Georgia Line-supported EP.

Kane Brown is another artist in his corner. The pair share a manager, but in 2016, they were two newcomers trying to figure out how to make that leap from Facebook — where Brown started — to radio.

Add Bailey Zimmerman and Hardy to Schneider's friend circle, as well, and Jelly Roll.

“I definitely did not expect to be friends with him," Schneider says. "I don’t wanna judge a book by his cover, but you see him and it’s like, ‘I don’t think this guy is going to be somebody who warms up to me.’ But he’s always been so supportive and so caring."

It takes talent and hard work to "make it" in country music, but a phone full of famous friends can help an artist navigate obstacles efficiently.

Most Popular Country Album From the Year You Were Born

Find out which country singer dominated on this list of the most popular albums from the year you were born or graduated high school.

This list is based on sales date from the Soundscan era (1991 to 2022) and total weeks spent atop Billboard's Hot Country Albums chart (1964-1990).

In 1999, Shania Twain's Come on Over album became the first to top the year-end chart in back-to-back years, but that feat has been done four times since, most recently in 2022. Which country album defined your childhood? Scroll down to find out.

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