A ‘tribute’ band for Maroon 5 got to number 9 in the charts with Maroon 5’s latest song before Maroon 5 even released it.
The techdirt article explains the mechanics, but it’s a case of music being held back from release, and ‘enterprising’ people jumping in to fulfil demand. Apparently, it happened in the 50s and 60s with American music taking a long time to be released in the UK, so cover artists often beat the original track to it.
