Wake Up, It's the First of the Month: The Cows Meme
By the First of the Month Cows developer · Updated · About us
Every month, on the 1st, the same message floods TikTok, X and Instagram: "Wake up, it's the first of the month", usually with a clip of cows dancing. Here is where the meme comes from, which song people mean, why it comes back every single month, and the realistic AI version that took off in November 2026.
Make your own first of the month cows video
Realistic dancing cows, 10 seconds with music, from $6.99. No photo needed for the classic version.
Make my cow video| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| The line | "Wake up, it’s the first of the month" |
| The song people mean | "1st of tha Month" by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (1995) |
| Classic clip | A fan edit with dancing cartoon cows from a 2006 animated film |
| When it returns | On or right before the 1st of every month |
| New version (Nov 2026) | Realistic AI cows standing up and dancing in a meadow |
| Tags | #firstofthemonth, #dancingcows, #tradition |
Where the line comes from
The phrase comes from "1st of tha Month", a 1995 single by the Cleveland rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. In the song, the first of the month is the day the checks arrive, so everybody wakes up in a good mood. The hook made the phrase stick for decades.
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Three black-and-white Holstein cows stand up and dance in the field you picked. Just choose the month and go.
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Posting on TikTok? Add the trending sound "1st of tha Month" in the TikTok editor. Our video has its own instrumental beat, not that song.
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Why cows?
Years later, a fan edit set the song over a party scene of dancing cartoon cows from the 2006 animated film Barnyard. The edit spread as a reaction clip, and people started posting it on the 1st of each month. That is why "first of the month" now means dancing cows to a large part of the internet.
Why it returns every month
The meme is tied to the calendar, so it has a built-in reason to come back: payday, rent day and a fresh start all land on the 1st. Google searches for "wake up its the first of the month" spike around the 1st of every month, mostly in the United States, and fall back in between. Posting it has become a small monthly tradition, which is why many posts carry the #tradition tag.
The new AI cow version
On November 1, 2026 a new format appeared on TikTok. Creators open with a few seconds of the classic clip, then cut to realistic AI-generated Holstein cows that rise onto their hind legs and dance in a meadow. Within two days more than a dozen creators had copied it and the videos passed six million views. Several creators said it took them about an hour of trial and error with AI tools to get one right.
Make your own
On First of the Month Cows you pick Classic Cows, My Pet or Me + Cows, choose the month and get a 10-second vertical video of realistic cows dancing, with an instrumental beat. We never use footage, characters or music from the film or the song. Add the "1st of tha Month" sound in TikTok yourself when you post.
FAQ
What song is "wake up, it’s the first of the month" from?
"1st of tha Month" by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, released in 1995.
When should I post it?
On the 1st of the month, ideally early in the morning. Searches and views start rising a day or two before.
Wake up, it’s almost the first of the month.
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