Ryan Griffin Talks Viral Success of ‘Salt, Lime & Tequila’ & Writing ‘Dibs’ With Kelsea Ballerini’: Watch

Ryan Griffin is soaking up his recent success — and has “Salt, Lime & Tequila” to thank for it. The country singer and songwriter at down with Billboard News to discuss his TikTok viral song, and how co-writing a track for Kelsea Ballerini opened the doors for his music career.

Griffin debuted “Salt” — which peaked at No. 52 and spent a total of 20 weeks on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart — via TikTok in a fun video with his dad. He explained, “I knew my dad would like that song because it has that beach-y vibe to it, and I threw the phone up and I was like, ‘Pops, listen to this! Just tell me you like the song.’”

The day after the country singer posted the video to his TikTok account, the track started making waves on the platform. “I look at my phone and it’s been going massively viral,” he added. “That’s what we’ve been touring on, that was my first single to country radio that I’ve been doing a radio tour [for] all year across the country. It’s definitely the song has launched my career and put me in the right direction.”

As for Griffin’s “Dibs” collaboration with Ballerini — her second No. 1 single on Country Airplay — it happened as a result of a serendipitous writing session.

“The day that we wrote that song, we weren’t even supposed to have written. We wrote it in 45 minutes and it popped out. I’ll never forget the day she called me and told me it would be her second single. My wife and I were pretty broke at the time, to be honest — being a broke songwriter is a real thing,” he recalled. “[Ballerini] called and told me it was going to be he second single and it was just this huge weight off my shoulders. It was really the song that helped me stick around Nashville a little bit longer and start doing my artist thing.”

Watch Ryan Griffin’s full interview with Billboard News in the video above.