What Makes Something Popular?

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson speaks with Derek Thompson (@DKThomp), senior editor of The Atlantic and author of "Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction," about what makes something — from a book to a product or a political slogan — catch on and become popular.

Thompson says it has to do with a combination of familiarity and distribution.

By Derek Thompson

Excerpted from the book HIT MAKERS by Derek Thompson. Copyright © 2017 by Derek Thompson. Reprinted by arrangement with Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, a Penguin Random House Company.