A few days ago, Ryan Trahan finished his trek across the U.S. to deliver 

, a popular YouTube creator. But he didn’t do it how most would. Instead of cranking up a car or boarding a plane, 

With $0.01 to spend, he set a goal to travel from California to North Carolina, where MrBeast lives. It took some faith — and a “go with the flow” attitude — but he crushed the challenge in just 30 days.

Even more impressive, Ryan’s videos got 

 throughout June when the challenge took place. He also gained 2.3 million subscribers and helped raise $1.4 million to end hunger through a fundraiser with 

Today, Ryan has 10.1 million subscribers and 

 on YouTube. Most of that popularity comes from his ability to turn pennies into dollars. 

Ryan Trahan’s Penny: A Catalyst for YouTube Success

If traveling on a budget of $0.01 sounds impossible, that’s because it 

. Luckily for Ryan, his original penny didn’t stay a penny forever.

His main goal was to flip the penny into a few dollars, then flip those dollars into 

Sold the ink pen to another stranger for $1

Bought a water bottle for $1, which he upsold to a stranger for $2

By the end of day one, Ryan had $42.70. Check out the video below to see how it all unfolded.

Ryan stuck to this plan for most of  the challenge. To reach MrBeast, he was walking dogs, delivering food, and doing other odd jobs to pay for transportation, lodging, and meals. His willingness to think creatively (and fast) caught viewers’ attention.

Why Ryan Trahan’s Videos Are so Popular

Ryan brings a lot of ingenuity to his content. He's making money in unique ways, living on a lean budget, and doing it all with a smile. But other than that, what makes people watch his videos?

1. They’re motivational (and relatable).

How often have you stared at a dollar and wished it were 10? Or thought, 

How can I make some extra money this week?

Well, Ryan made that happen across 30 YouTube videos. If he can take the lowest denomination of money and multiply it with creativity and grit, why can’t we all? It’s easy to leave his videos feeling inspired or at least motivated to do something great.

Most people know what a penny is and what it represents. So when you see that tiny, brown coin on Ryan’s thumbnails, you don’t have to think too hard about the video’s concept.

But to be clear, Ryan doesn’t rely on using the word “penny” in his titles. 

The dollar sign is a globally-recognized symbol

, so he writes “$0.01” instead. Viewers may not connect with the word “penny,” but they’ll immediately understand the number.

Traveling the country with one penny is an awesome idea. But you've hit a new level when you’re doing all that, plus 

This ideas works because MrBeast has millions of subscribers on YouTube. When Ryan mentions his name, he appeals to his own core audience plus viewers who love watching MrBeast.

4. He targets four YouTube niches at once: challenges, budgeting, making money, and travel.

It’s easy to look at Ryan’s channel and say he’s in the “challenge” niche — nothing more, nothing less. But after watching a few videos, you realize his content shows so much more:

Viewers might come from the personal finance, travel, or challenge corners of YouTube. So even if you don’t know who Ryan is or why he’s seeking a guy named MrBeast, there's something to love about the content he makes. 

For a deeper analysis, check out our video breaking down the secrets to Ryan’s success:

This isn’t the first time Ryan flipped a penny into a nice chunk of cash. He’s done it several times on his channel, and those videos have numerous views. This one in particular, where Ryan turns a penny into $1,000, is sitting at 16 million:

Before he was turning pennies into dollars, Ryan’s videos were a bit different. He documented his journey as a track and field athlete and posted workout content that had nothing to do with money. Over time, his views shot up when he started turning pennies into dollars.

This proves a timeless piece of advice we always share on YouTube: 

. After all, you never know which videos will do well (or not) until you post them on your channel.

Taking the time to figure that out (like Ryan did) helps you find your “thing” on YouTube and grow your channel much faster.

Want more success stories? Here’s how a mysterious “counting channel” got 100,000 subscribers in three months.

Close-up of eye holding YouTube play button with text "1 billion views" celebration.

Video creator Ryan Trahan used a single penny to cross North America in 30 days. That challenge brought millions of viewers to his YouTube channel — and here’s why.

How Ryan Trahan Got a Billion YouTube Views Turning Pennies into Dollars

Managing comments is just the start. vidIQ gives you the full toolkit to grow and earn.

We live in a fast-paced world, which means your opinions won’t always age well. They can sound offensive, off-topic, or downright cringey when you read them several weeks later.

But don't worry. It's easy to find your comments on YouTube, then edit or delete them as you see fit.

 on the history type panel (right side of the page).

Next, you'll see a panel showing your YouTube comment history. Scroll through the comments and identify the ones you want to edit or delete.

1. To delete a comment, return to the YouTube comments panel (steps shown above). Find a comment you want to delete and click 

2. On the next page, click the three dots beside your comment and select 

1. To edit a comment, return to the YouTube comments panel (steps shown above). Click on the video containing the comment you want to change.

2. Next, YouTube will send you to the video watch page containing your comment. Click the three dots beside your comment and select 

How to Review YouTube Live Stream Comments

Now that we’ve taken care of regular comments, let’s review the ones you've left on live streams.

1. Return to the history type panel (steps shown above) and click 

2. Browse your previous live chat messages. Delete or edit them the same way you would a regular YouTube comment (steps shown above).

2 Drawbacks of YouTube’s Comment Review Tool

On the surface, this tool does what it promises and allows you to review and delete comments. But here’s the catch (and it’s a pretty big one): 

If you want to do any of this with ease or speed, you’re out of luck.

Filters and search parameters to narrow your results.

If your goal is to dig through years of comments to find the embarrassing ones, it won’t be easy or efficient. However, this is the way to go until there's a better way to see your comments on YouTube.

Did you know you can also see who posts the most comments on your YouTube videos? Here's a short guide to show you how.

YouTube comment examples from vidIQ showing engagement with likes and replies icons.

If you post lots of YouTube comments, you might want to review or delete them now and then. Here’s how to search your comment history and make those changes.

How to See and Edit Your YouTube Comment History

vidIQ's comment management and channel audit tools help you keep your YouTube presence polished and professional.

There are plenty of ways to find trending TikTok sounds, but not all of them are enjoyable. It takes time to scavenge YouTube for hot songs. Spotify playlists aren't updated fast enough. You could skim the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but then you're limiting yourself to U.S. music — and most importantly, 

Instead of finding TikTok trends, your best bet is to have them curated for you. No deep web searches. No stumbling through Reddit pages or outdated "top 10" articles. Just the hottest TikTok sounds at your fingertips.

Here are six helpful resources for your search.

 curates trending sounds and music in one simple app. All you have to do is download the app, choose your interests, and 

There are over 100 playlists, so you'll never have to search for TikTok music. Simply tap on a playlist and browse the

 for a specific topic. Those genres include comedy, gaming, sports, beauty, and more.

But if you want to find sounds outside your niche, you can also browse by country, track length, and popular creators.

vidIQ Viral – Your Guide to Trending TikTok Sounds and Music

In addition to all this, vidIQ Viral lets you:

See which sounds are trending upward or downward.

Discover the top-performing videos for a song or sound.

Go directly to TikTok and use songs/sounds in your videos.

The TikTok Creative Center shows trends and insights to help you make better content. Among those trends are:

Songs that are climbing the TikTok charts

You have to sign up for an account to see this data, but browsing the site is pretty easy once you've done so.

. Popular songs are at the top of the charts, and breakout songs are growing in popularity.

5. Select a time frame: Yesterday, last 30 days, or last 120 days.

You'll see a list of 100 top songs once you've made your selections.

this list doesn't show user-generated sounds

. But it does indicate whether songs are trending up or down, their popularity over time, and whether businesses can use them on TikTok.

If you have some time on your hands, use TikTok's search bar to discover popular music for your videos.

or something similar into the search bar.

 trending sound, but it's a start. You can run a variety of searches to get better recommendations on the app.

Too busy to find the top TikTok sounds? Forget "website-digging" and go straight to the viral trends. An in-app playlist called TikTok Viral will show you the 

4. Tap any song to preview it, trim it for a video, or bookmark it for later.

 is a website that shows trending TikTok sounds in a weekly or monthly format. When you click the weekly option, you'll see the top sounds on TikTok for the current week. The monthly option shows the same thing but for 30-day intervals.

The number of popular videos using the sound

You can also preview tracks by pressing the play button on each thumbnail.

One advantage of using TokBoard is that you get more sound results. Instead of seeing the top 50 or so tracks, you get to see 

 at any given time. We did a deep scroll of this week's trending songs and got 

 is similar to TokBoard. But if you're looking for a polished experience (design and functionality), TokChart is where you want to be.

 on TikTok. "Trending" refers to the most used sounds in the last 24 hours, while "growing" covers the fastest-growing sounds in 24 hours.

, TokChart shows you the top 100; if you're looking for 

With these resources, you'll never have to wonder which songs are trending on TikTok. Just whip out your smartphone and find the hottest music for your videos!

When you've mastered TikTok (and the trends within), learn how to turn TikTok followers into YouTube subscribers.

Smartphone showing TikTok app with wireless earbuds and case on pink background

Do you want to find trending music on TikTok (without doing too much work)? These apps and websites will curate the best TikTok sounds for you.

6 Easy Ways to Find Trending TikTok Sounds

Do you have a list of video ideas you're dying to shoot? Well, not so fast: You have some work to do before those ideas become popular YouTube videos.

After all, these concepts are somewhat new to you. 

 It's better to be skeptical of your ideas and put them through a validation process. For example, is your next video timely enough to get thousands of views? Will your subscribers appreciate the topic? Does the idea stand out from similar YouTube videos?

There's only one way to find out for sure. Here's how to test your ideas and see if they're worth pursuing on YouTube.

Some videos get more views because they're posted at the right time. Knowing this, it makes sense to ask a few questions before hitting the record button. For example, 

This is typically the case with holiday content. You wouldn't expect a turkey and dressing tutorial to go viral on Halloween because its still "spooky season." Viewers are clicking on videos about candy, costumes, and Halloween games. If you post the same video closer to Thanksgiving ⁠— when turkeys are top of mind ⁠— you'll get more views.

But trends come in all variations, not just the holiday kind. That's why checking 

 is an excellent way to discover what's hot and what's not. You can view trending topics worldwide or search any term to see how popular it is now versus other time frames.

For example, the Nascar Cup Series is happening this month. Google Trends shows that "Nascar race today" was searched heavily in the last few days.

2. Did You Ask Viewers What They Want to Watch?

The days of guessing what viewers want to watch are long gone. If you have 500 subscribers, you can ask them directly using the 

The Community tab is a social network inside of YouTube itself, and you can post images, videos, GIFs, and more. But the best part? 

to collect viewers' opinions of what they would or wouldn't watch.

We do this often on the vidIQ channel. If we don't know which angle to take for a video, we leave the final decision to the viewers!

3. Did You Bring a Fresh Perspective to a Popular Topic?

These days, YouTube is more competitive than ever. Thousands of channels dominate the most popular topics on the internet, from gaming to beauty to music.

But all's not lost. You can penetrate a saturated niche with solid YouTube research.

 that already exist for the topic. Ask yourself what's good about those videos and what's not so great about them. Overall, you're trying to 

see what's missing from the conversation 

Need an example? Watch the first 20 seconds of this video, "NFTs, Explained."

Johnny Harris doesn't begin the video by introducing himself or his channel like most finance creators. Instead, he strings together news articles and broadcasts about non-fungible tokens. Everything is moving quickly, and there's the sound of a ticking clock ⁠— or perhaps a bomb about to explode. It's intriguing, hard to click away from, and most importantly, 

4. Did You Personalize the Experience for Viewers?

Don't forget to consider your audience when you're testing video ideas. Each one should connect with them personally and not a broad group of viewers.

 says personally-relevant content is more important than viral videos, according to YouTube's Culture and Trends Report. That's a revelation in the era of viral TikToks and YouTube Shorts.

making personalized content is essential.

 After you've done everything you can to 

 and trending topics, the only thing left is…you. Your personality (and relatability) is the tie-breaker that keeps viewers on your channel instead of someone else's.

Here's how to understand viewers and create a bond with them:

Learn what they like, dislike, and dream of in their daily lives.

Talk to them on the YouTube Community tab.

Join the Facebook, Discord, or Reddit communities they love.

Take the insights you learn from this journey and weave it into your content. That will help you make better, more relevant videos for your audience.

And while you're at it, here's a guide for coming up with amazing video ideas.

Woman with camera and lenses inspecting photos at a white desk with a laptop and notebook

Some video ideas will bring you views, and others will hardly scratch the surface. Here are 4 ways to test your YouTube ideas before you film them.

How to Test a YouTube Video Idea Before You Start Filming

With thousands of sounds and music tracks on TikTok, it's hard to catch trends as they go viral. After all, few people use a sound when it's new or gaining traction. But when that same sound is at the top of the charts, 

That creates massive competition for your TikTok videos. You even might get fewer views or struggle to grow your channel, which is frustrating for any short video creator.

 can help. Our new mobile app will help you find trending sounds on TikTok (and music) as they go viral. That'll help you choose the right backing tracks for your videos and become a trendsetter, not a trends chaser.

vidIQ Viral: Explore Our TikTok Sound Finder

vidIQ Viral is a hands-off experience. Seriously. You don't need to search for anything while using the app. Just tell us your interests, and we'll build a set of playlists with the 

Some of the playlists are organized by video topics, such as comedy, dance, gaming, sports, or beauty. Others will show you the top TikTok sounds and music by location, track length, or popular TikTok creators. Altogether, there are 

There are plenty of ways to pick and choose tracks while browsing a playlist. You can:

Bookmark sounds and music for your favorites list.

Tap the TikTok icon to discover the top-performing videos for a song or sound.

And no matter what you're doing, we'll send you an alert when a song or sound starts trending.

Learn more about vidIQ Viral and how to use it in the video below:

Ready to get more views through the power of trends? Go to the 

 for a limited time, so check it out now! Soon we'll expand beyond popular TikTok sounds to give you trending hashtags, video analytics, and more.

Bonus: Get TikTok Stats with Our Browser Extension

Trending TikTok sounds will give you more views, but so does quality research. That's why we've updated our chrome extension to show views and engagement rates for TikTok videos played on desktop. Now you can see which videos are performing well, study their magic, and make better videos for your channel.

Don't have our extension yet? Here's how to get it 

1. Go to the Chrome Web Store and install 

 on desktop, then click on any video to see its views and engagement rate.

You'll see these stats across several TikTok pages, including hashtag pages, topic pages, search pages, music pages, and your profile.

Standing out on TikTok isn't easy, but it's more than possible with the right tools. So don't forget to use our TikTok resources when you're feeling stuck, uninspired, or even a little burnt out:

Mobile screen showing top 100 trending music tracks with filters by duration and favorites icon

Which songs are trending on TikTok? Even better, what are the best TikTok sounds to use in your videos? Now you can catch the latest trends with vidIQ for TikTok.

vidIQ Viral: Your Guide to Trending TikTok Sounds and Music

Not long ago, YouTube released a tool that shows 

. It was initially rolled out to YouTube Premium subscribers, but now it's available for all mobile and desktop viewers.

This feature is a huge step forward for 

. Instead of pressing play and not knowing what to expect, anyone can see the best part of a video and fast-forward to that scene.

So, what's the catch? Well, it's not exactly geared toward video creators. That same tool lets viewers skip around, see the good stuff, and leave your video prematurely.

upside. The most replayed tool shows you which scenes viewers loved the most. Studying those moments will help you understand what excites your audience and hopefully make better content.

YouTube's new tool shows more than just the popular parts of a video. In fact, the first thing you'll notice is a graph flowing up and down on your video's timeline. It shows the most 

 least popular moments within your content.

This graph only appears when a viewer seeks through your video to find different scenes. And as they do, they'll eventually reach a section where the graph peaks. This high point is called 

— the scene or collection of scenes viewers watched repeatedly.

At that moment, YouTube shows three things on the screen:

A thumbnail preview of the most replayed segment

How to Use 'Most Replayed' Insights to Make Better Content

After you identify popular segments, it's time to figure out why they're popular in the first place. What made people return to those scenes? Why were they more valuable than others?

Here are three questions to ask yourself:

Did people press rewind because something happened too quickly?

Did I introduce an interesting element, like a chart, graph, or cool editing sequence?

Number three has happened several times on the vidIQ channel. We've introduced a problem, offered a solution, and hoped that would be enough to satisfy viewers. But with the most replayed tool, we don't have to 

 something is working; we can confirm by hovering over the video's timeline!

For example, in our older video about how to get 1,000 subscribers, the most replayed scene offers a solution to that problem. We talked about a YouTube tool that shows which videos 

. Knowing this detail is the first step to gaining more subscribers, so it's an excellent solution for beginner creators.

Watch the segment below to see its value:

Why viewers loved this "most replayed" section:

Instead of us just talking about the tool, viewers get to see what it looks like and hear why they should use it.

It solves the never-ending problem of turning new viewers into subscribers. That creates a long-term impact.

Do this exercise on your channel and see what you come away with. Maybe you'll discover that viewers love comedic moments, rare insights, or crazy stunts. Whatever it is, be sure to add more of it to your content.

Will This Tool Affect Your Channel's Watch Time?

OK, it's time to address the elephant in the room. If viewers already know the best part of your video, why would they watch the entire thing? And will this tool slowly reduce 

Not quite. YouTube has been testing this tool for a while, and there are no issues so far.

"We heard concerns from creators that this feature would decrease watch time or negatively impact some content types. The good news is that in our experiment, we found that there's no statistically significant impact to watch time from showing these graphs," says Pierce (YouTube product manager) in a 

To learn more about the most replayed tool, watch the video below:

Is the most replayed tool a gift and a curse for creators? It could be. But knowing your audience through and through is one way to keep growing despite platform changes.

Here's a guide for creating the exact videos subscribers want to see.

Person watching a motorcycle video on smartphone while sitting on a purple blanket indoors

Which part of your video do viewers love the most? A new YouTube tool shows that exact moment, but there’s just one catch: Your audience can see it too.

How to See the Most Replayed Scenes from Your YouTube Video

If you do YouTube long enough, you begin to understand what makes viewers…well, view. A bold thumbnail with lots of shock value is bound to make people curious. A mysterious title with a hint of emotion does the trick too.

On YouTube, the worst thing you can do is be 

Writing video titles that are all "topic" and no emotion

Creating thumbnails with no glitz or glamour

You see, there has to be a little magic — a stretching of the truth. When viewers see your title and thumbnail, they should feel like a kid at Disney World: unable to look away.

Not all clickbait is terrible on YouTube. If you're meeting viewers' expectations and satisfying their needs, what some call clickbait is just good marketing.

Lydia Sweatt

Posts Written By Lydia Sweatt

How Ryan Trahan Got a Billion YouTube Views Turning Pennies into Dollars

How to See and Edit Your YouTube Comment History

6 Easy Ways to Find Trending TikTok Sounds

How to Test a YouTube Video Idea Before You Start Filming

vidIQ Viral: Your Guide to Trending TikTok Sounds and Music

How to See the Most Replayed Scenes from Your YouTube Video

Why Clickbait Is Actually Good for Your YouTube Channel

Why Do Thousands of Gaming Channels Fail on YouTube?

5 Ways to Increase YouTube Watch Time on Any Video

YouTube's New Keyword Research Tool: Will It Boost Your Views?

YouTube Play Button: Complete Guide to Getting Creator Awards

Want to Reach 10k YouTube Subscribers? Show Your Personality

This YouTube Mystery Brought 100k Subscribers to a New Channel