Instagram has a strange musical obsession, and it seems to have one song on repeat. Users have noticed that the platform keeps recommending Creed’s 1999 hit “Higher” for their Stories, whether they post a photo of their cat, a plate of food or a scenic view. Now the company has confirmed that a glitch in its algorithm is behind the phenomenon.
The strange recommendations first caught users’ attention in August. Some joked that Creed must have struck a deal with Meta, Instagram’s parent company, to put the song in front of as many people as possible.
“I can’t prove it but pretty sure Creed is paying META to suggest their song ‘Higher’ on all Instagram Stories,” one user wrote on X.
The jokes continued into September, when another user discovered that plenty of other people had the same experience.
“Posted on instagram about how instagram always tries to make me add Higher by Creed to my stories and it turns out it’s happening to other people. I feel like I’m uncovering a big conspiracy,” they wrote.
Another user came close to giving in. “Instagram really wanted me to add higher by creed to the picture of caesar salad I posted…they almost had me this time,” they said.
Pamela Ross, a communications specialist, told CNN that Instagram recommended the track no matter what she shared.
“Anytime I posted anything on my Instagram story, like a dinner plate or my cat or whatever — every time it recommended adding ‘Higher’ by Creed,” Ross said. “I’m not following Creed, I’m not listening to Creed. Like what millennial was in charge of this decision?”
Even Instagram’s own spokesperson seemed puzzled. “That song is always recommended to me too!!” they told CNN.
The company later confirmed that it had found a problem. “We looked into this and found that this song is being recommended to more people than intended,” the spokesperson said. Instagram’s engineering team is working on a fix, though the company has yet to explain what caused the error.
Instagram normally recommends music based on signals such as a user’s past choices and details about the photo or video they want to share. For some reason, those signals have made “Higher” an all-purpose soundtrack.
Soulja Boy’s “Turn My Swag On” has also drawn complaints from users who say it pops up too often. Instagram, however, insists that its recommendations for that track reflect genuine popularity on the platform.
“The Soulja Boy song being recommended is not a bug, and it is actually popular on IG!” the spokesperson said.
Creed released “Higher” in 1999, at the height of the band’s commercial success. The song reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Mainstream Rock chart. It also helped propel Human Clay to sales of around 12 million copies, and the single later earned double-platinum certification from the RIAA.
The song was written by Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti and singer Scott Stapp, who said he drew inspiration for the song from a recurring nightmare in which someone hunted him down and shot him. Lucid dreaming gave him a way to take control of the dream and escape, and the experience helped shape the song’s lyrics and spiritual themes.
More than 25 years later, “Higher” continues to find a new audience — or at least a captive one. Instagram’s algorithm is determined to take its users higher, whether they asked for it or not.
