It is a 2012 single by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz, built around rapping about bargain thrift-store finds instead of designer labels, which became a viral YouTube hit and spawned parody videos.

Where did Thrift Shop come from?

The song dropped on August 28, 2012 as part of the independent album The Heist, and the music video hit YouTube the next day before Redditor pricklypete submitted it to r/videos.

What does Thrift Shop mean?

Lyrically, Macklemore celebrates finding cheap, strange clothing at second-hand stores while mocking the rap convention of flexing expensive brands. Urban Dictionary entries also use the phrase to mean a compulsion to buy odd items at thrift stores, citing the video directly.

How do you use Thrift Shop?

Creators typically rewrote the "I'm gonna pop some tags" hook and chorus structure to fit a new subject, as seen in steveberkecomedy's "Pot Shop" and IGN's "Game Shop".

Is Thrift Shop still popular?

The parody wave faded after 2013, but the song is a classic of early-2010s viral music after topping the Billboard Hot 100 and breaking the weekly on-demand streaming record set by Gotye.

Thrift Shop

2012viral videoclassic

Published November 4, 2026

"Thrift Shop" is a 2012 song by Seattle rapper Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz, built around bargain hunting at second-hand clothing stores instead of flexing designer labels. The music video exploded on YouTube and Reddit after its August 2012 upload, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2013, and inspired a wave of lyric parodies including "Pot Shop" and IGN's "Game Shop."

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Overview

The track pairs a horn-sampling beat with Macklemore rapping about $20 fur coats, oversized flannels, and footy pajamas while Wanz belts the "I'm gonna pop some tags" hook1. The official music video leans into the joke visually with the rapper modeling thrifted fur, swim goggles, and a housecoat, which gave meme pages dozens of frame grabs to turn into image macros3.

As the song climbed the charts, the parody format calcified around the same beat and the "I'm gonna pop some ___" structure, so creators swapped thrifting for whatever niche they wanted to roast. IGN's gaming retail riff and a stoner-focused rewrite both rode that template to millions of views within weeks of upload4 5. A "Thrift Shop Memes" Facebook page launched in December 2012 and collected caption macros built from the song's lyrics3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

YouTube (origin) / Reddit (viral spread)

Creator

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Date

2012

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis released "Thrift Shop" featuring Wanz as a single from their independent debut album The Heist on August 28, 2012, and posted the official music video to YouTube the next day1 2. The song's lyrics flipped the standard rap luxury-brand flex on its head, with Macklemore boasting about a $0.99 velour jumpsuit instead of Gucci.

Redditor pricklypete submitted the video to r/videos the same day it went up, kicking off the earliest wave of discussion outside Macklemore's existing fanbase3. By January 2013, the clip had passed 70 million YouTube views according to KYM's early tally3.

How It Spread

Reposts on r/videos did most of the early lifting. A September 10, 2012 repost by orangepeelz collected more than 7,500 upvotes over the next five months, and a "Thrift Shop by Macklemore" Facebook fan page launched on September 263. On October 8, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis hosted an r/IAmA session where they announced that The Heist had just hit No. 1 on iTunes mid-AMA3.

Parody videos drove the second wave. YouTuber whatsupelle uploaded a "poor dad forced to thrift" parody on December 6, 2012, which pulled around 460,000 views in two months3. On January 9, 2013, steveberkecomedy posted "Pot Shop," a pro-legalization rewrite that cleared 1.3 million YouTube views inside 19 days after Redditor mysterieuxmystere pushed it to r/videos4. IGN followed on January 17 with "Game Shop," a retail-gaming version that hit roughly 993,000 views in two weeks5.

Mainstream coverage caught up fast. Macklemore, Ryan Lewis and Wanz performed the song on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on December 11, 2012, and on January 23, 2013 the track knocked down the Billboard Hot 100's top spot with 341,000 downloads sold that week and 1.68 million streams, breaking Gotye's on-demand streaming record6. Billboard noted it was the first debut Hot 100 No. 1 for a rap act since Wiz Khalifa's "Black & Yellow" in 20116.

Timeline

2012-08-28

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis release "Thrift Shop" featuring Wanz as a single from The Heist.

2012-08-29

Official music video uploaded to YouTube; pricklypete posts it to r/videos the same day.

2012-10-08

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis host an r/IAmA and announce The Heist reached No. 1 on iTunes during the AMA.

2012-12-06

YouTuber whatsupelle uploads a "poor dad" parody of the music video.

2012-12-11

The trio performs "Thrift Shop" on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

2012-12-17