Flashback to the middle of the college football season: If you were watching anything on ESPN, or even if it was just playing in the background at the bar, chances are you heard the chorus to “Centuries” by Fall Out Boy over and over again.

ESPN’s overuse of the song offered two opportunities: enjoying it or being annoyed with it. But can we really blame Fall Out Boy for making the song?
Had ESPN never played it to promote their broadcasting of football games, the door to new music may never have been opened for anyone who hadn’t been familiar with Fall Out Boy. But, on the other hand, because the Disney-owned network decided to continually play the song, a large portion of the ESPN audience grew to hate it.
Even Pete Wentz, the band’s bassist, sympathized with those annoyed by “Centuries.” “I watched [college football] a little bit. It’s a little bit crazy to watch with your song in it so much,” he said. “Hopefully we didn’t annoy you too badly!”
“Centuries” received the bad end of a network or show’s use of their song, but often, a show or network can help a song’s popularity skyrocket.
In Breaking Bad’s finale, the final moments featured an epic rising view of Walter White’s body and “Baby Blue” — a song that was originally released in 1972.

The next day, “Baby Blue” by Badfinger was a chart topper: It was on iTunes’ top 25 hits, its streams on Spotify increased 9,000 percent, it was number 14 on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs and it had 37,000 new downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan, an information and sales tracking system.
Breaking Bad also helped out music groups and their songs, like “Crystal Blue Persuasion” by Tommy James and the Shondells, and Los Cuates de Sinaloa, who appeared on the show to perform “Negro y Azul: Ballad of Heisenberg.”
Commercials give a helping hand as well.
Fun. had already gotten a helping hand from Glee, but after Chevrolet featured “We are Young” in a Super Bowl ad, the song was another instant hit.

According to Billboard, “We are Young” spent six weeks as number one on Hot 100, and broke Eminem’s digital sales record, selling “at least 300,000-plus for six straight weeks, becoming the first song ever to reach such a total in each of six weeks,” all after the super bowl commercial was aired.
For most musicians, the use of their song in a network or TV show can help boost their career. But unfortunately for Fall Out Boy, that doesn’t always coincide with a growth in their fan base.
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Even Pete Wentz, the band’s bassist, sympathized with those annoyed by “Centuries.” “I watched [college football] a little bit. It’s a little bit crazy to watch with your song in it so much,” he said. “Hopefully we didn’t annoy you too badly!”