Often a viral hit will be due to a beat or quirky lyrics that aren't repeated in the rest of an artists music. Continued success needs a fanbase that's interested in a lot more of your music.
https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/officialpsy
> 120.75M (+5.8%) Video Views for the last 30 days
And that's just on YouTube. Sure, none of their followups received quite the same amount of attention, but they certainly have a healthy sustained audience.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil_Nas_X#2018%E2%80%932019:_B...
> Lil Nas X began creating memes to promote "Old Town Road" before it was picked up by short-form video social media TikTok users. [...] Lil Nas X estimated he made about 100 memes to promote it; the song went viral in early 2019 due to the #Yeehaw Challenge meme on TikTok. Millions of users posted videos of themselves dressed as a wrangler or cowgirl, with most #yeehaw videos using the song for their soundtrack; as of July 2019, they have been seen more than 67 million times. Another core audience tied to social media is children who are hidden in the statistics of adult listeners. Quartz.com says the song certainly owes part of its success to the demographic, and notes they are attracted to the song being repetitive, easy to sing along to, and using lyrics about riding horses and tractors, which children can relate to. It debuted at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, later climbing to number one. The track also debuted on the Hot Country Songs chart at number 19 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at number 36. After an "intense bidding war", Lil Nas X signed with Columbia Records in March 2019.
It's not about the one trick pony hit's that exist on a single platform which the article is focused on, it is indeed the continuation afterwards which a creator's following will still exist beyond TikTok or wherever their debut hit originated from.
Inevitably, The corporations, media and the existing larger influencers from other platforms will join in and ruin the platform, just like they did with the rest of the others. The over glorified algorithm has already been gamed by them to increase engagement, ads, etc such that smaller and late creators have depleting chances of being recognised.
Nothing has changed.
Rebecca Black had a viral video that people liked because of how bad the song was, and how badly it was performed. She not only didn't disappear, but parlayed being known for something terrible into a entire career.
PSY was successful before and after Gangnam Style... But he's a Korean artist and never meant to go global so of course his appeal might be limited beyond one funny video.
I guess it's a good idea to use a viral moment to gather those few fans who'll appreciate the art you'll like to make continuously.