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And while this isn’t a new trend, I’ve recently taken personal  interest in what millions of music lovers across the nation have been recognizing for years — musicians/bands topping music charts with songs that make their debut in TV shows or commercials.

One recent example is the Apple iPod commercial featuring the song “1 2 3 4” by Feist. Leslie Feist’s fame and recognition soared as she began winning music awards - five Juno awards in 2008 - and performing at the 50^th annual Grammy Awards after being nominated for “Best New Artist” in 2008.

This also seemed to be the case with the theme song, “I Don’t Want To Be” by Gavin Degraw, for the hit TV show, One Tree Hill, on The CW Television Network,.  This song eventually reached #1 on Billboard’s Pop Songs chart in 2005 and his next self-titled CD “Gavin Degraw” reached as high as #7 on the Billboard 200 charts in 2008.

Whether its “1 2 3 4,” or “I Don’t Want To Be,” the opportunities to hit it big on TV are endless -no matter if it’s a TV show or commercial. Some TV networks are allowing the placement of pop-up ads at the bottom of the TV screen while a song is playing, listing the name of the artist and the song title. I recently noticed this while my girlfriend was watching MTV’s “The Hills.” At the conclusion of other television shows I’ve also seen song titles and artists listed during the credits. And we can’t forget about the millions of views top-rated television commercials receive on YouTube and other online Web sites. The network of possibilities is far reaching.

Who Is Next?
For the past couple of weeks, I have kept my eye out for the next upcoming music chart topper via a TV show or commercial. So what artist will top the music charts next? My prediction is MoZella with her single “Magic (OH, OH, OH)” that is used in the commercial for Verizon’s new Droid cell phone.

Who knows the future of MoZella, but I think my prediction is pretty on-target for her to continue on the same path of success as both Feist and Gavin DeGraw. (The new Droid commercial posted on YouTube less than one month ago has close to 1.6 million views.)

Whether an artists’ music is featured on a popular TV show or a 30-second TV commercial, the opportunity for a musician/band to receive top-rated recognition is there. While I can’t take credit for being a musician of any sort, I will give this bit of advice as a marketing professional - if you’re a musician or a band looking for that big break, write that catchy tune and put it out over the airwaves to reach as many people as possible…you might just be the next big hit.