Teenage Rap Duo Take DIY to the Top of the iTunes Charts

A teenage rap group that has scaled the iTunes album chart is giving a new flavor to the term "DIY."

Doing-it-yourself once meant succumbing to life in a squat packaging cassette tapes by hand, but pop-rap duo Jack & Jack are proof teenyboppers can now ride the DIY train all the way to the top of the charts.

As Digital Music News points out, Jack & Jack used the DistroKid service to distribute their self-released debut EP Calibraska. DistroKid allows artists to upload an unlimited amount of music for distribution to digital services like iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify and Pandora for a $19.99 flat fee. Artists using the service can keep 100 percent of their royalties.

Calibraska held down the top spot on the album chart yesterday (July 26), and has since slipped to No. 5, behind Jill Scott, Taylor Swift and Future.

The EP currently has 2,246 reviews, averaging at five stars. (Jill Scott's Woman, by contrast, has 313 reviews.)

Of course, the rise of Jack & Jack didn't come out of nowhere. The duo have 5.7 million followers on Vine and about 2.5 million Twitter followers each. And no doubt there's a machine working somewhere behind the scenes. But one thing you won't find anywhere back there: a record label.