Are you a songwriter or artist wondering how to make your music resonate in today’s digital landscape? In a world where traditional avenues for music discovery have shifted, understanding the power of platforms like TikTok is crucial. If you’re aiming for your songs to break through, especially in the absence of traditional clubs and live music venues, TikTok presents a powerful answer.
It might seem like a leap, but TikTok has undeniably become a vital force in music. Think of it as the MTV of our generation – a place where sounds and songs ignite trends, memes, user-generated videos, dance crazes, and challenges. Embracing TikTok isn’t just an option; it’s becoming a necessity for artists seeking to connect with a global audience and create viral hits. It’s time to dive headfirst into the world of popular TikTok songs and understand how they shape the music industry today.
Tik Tok
Understanding the TikTok Landscape for Music
Before we delve into what makes a song popular on TikTok, let’s grasp the platform’s evolution. TikTok emerged from Musical.ly, an app initially favored by a younger demographic. However, TikTok has transformed into something much broader and more impactful.
Users on TikTok create videos, typically around 15 seconds or longer, using a vast array of in-app editing tools and, importantly, music or sounds. A key feature is the ability to use another user’s audio, which is incredibly relevant for musicians. Strategically “seeding” your audio with the right influencers can significantly amplify your song’s reach.
Beyond Dance Challenges: The Diverse World of TikTok Content
TikTok isn’t solely about dance challenges, skits, and trends. It has evolved into a dynamic space encompassing educational content, informative videos, cooking tips, jokes, memes, and much more. Even professionals in fields like music business and songwriting are leveraging TikTok to share tutorials and insights.
@benjamin.groff Here’s a preview from my online course Insider Secrets to Hit Songwriting. #songwriting #musicbusiness #songwriter #musician #tiktokartists #vocalist ♬ original sound – Benjamin Groff
For musicians, TikTok offers a unique form of engagement. Unlike passive listening on playlists, TikTok encourages active interaction with your songs as users create content using your music.
This article will explore the elements that contribute to a song’s popularity on TikTok. For songwriters, this is an invaluable opportunity to identify trends and commonalities in viral hits. Understanding these patterns can inform your songwriting process and potentially help you craft songs that are inherently “TikTok-ready”. Ideally, artists should aim not just to follow trends but to set them.
The TikTok Challenge Myth and Influencer Power
tiktok challenge
Many artists and their teams immediately think of launching a TikTok challenge to promote a new release. While the idea of a viral challenge is appealing, it’s crucial to understand how they actually work. Simply creating a challenge, especially for emerging artists, doesn’t guarantee virality. It’s like a tree falling in an empty forest – if no one sees it, does it make a sound?
While you can initiate a challenge, its success heavily relies on being “seeded” with the right TikTok influencers. This is where major labels invest significantly. TikTok influencer marketing campaigns can range from a few thousand dollars for indie artists to tens of thousands for major label pushes.
TikTok’s impact transcends genres, making it a relevant platform for any musician’s marketing strategy.
TikTok Virality: Seeding and Organic Growth
The mechanism behind TikTok virality often involves influencer marketing. Specialized agencies manage TikTok influencers and facilitate collaborations with artists. These agencies arrange for influencers to use a song in their TikToks, potentially launching a challenge or simply featuring the track in creative ways. Crucially, they “seed” the song by making the audio clip available on the influencer’s profile for their followers and other users to utilize.
I
This seeding process is how songs traditionally enter the TikTok ecosystem and become discoverable. Initially, TikTok’s music library primarily consisted of major label hits. While this landscape is evolving rapidly, influencer seeding remains a powerful way to gain social proof and credibility by leveraging an influencer’s existing audience.
Therefore, while creating a TikTok challenge is a valid tactic, expecting it to go viral organically without influencer support is unrealistic, especially for artists building their initial audience. Unless your challenge concept is exceptionally original and captivating, paid influencer campaigns are often necessary to gain traction.
Songwriting for TikTok: Key Elements to Consider
For professional songwriters and artists, thinking about TikTok’s potential to break a song is no longer optional. The question becomes: how do you write songs that are “TikTok-ready?”
Here are essential guidelines and elements to consider when crafting songs with TikTok in mind:
- Immerse Yourself in TikTok: Become an active TikTok user. Understand the platform’s trends, the types of content that resonate, and identify key influencers within your genre or target audience.
- Identify Current Trends: Pay close attention to trending sounds, challenges, and video formats. Understanding what’s currently popular provides valuable insights into what captures user attention.
- Keep it Clean (Mostly): While TikTok’s censorship policies can fluctuate, erring on the side of clean lyrics is generally safer, especially given the platform’s younger user base. Having a clean version readily available is always a good strategy.
- Genre Versatility: While Hip Hop dominates, Pop, Indie, and various other genres have found success on TikTok. Don’t limit yourself, but be aware of genre trends on the platform.
- Simplicity and Singability: Lyrically, simplicity often reigns. Easy-to-sing-along lyrics and catchy hooks encourage user participation and content creation.
- Upbeat Energy: Many popular TikTok songs are danceable, high-energy, and fun. While exceptions exist, upbeat tracks tend to be more conducive to viral trends and challenges.
Essential Elements of TikTok-Ready Songs
Consider incorporating these elements into your songwriting to enhance TikTok potential:
- Unique and Striking Sounds: Raw, unconventional, or attention-grabbing sounds can make your song stand out in the fast-paced TikTok environment.
- Beat Drops and Dramatic Moments: Songs with clear beat drops or sections that lend themselves to dramatic reveals or transitions are highly effective for engaging video content.
- Shareable Lyrics: Craft lines that are easily quotable, meme-able, or relatable for social media content creation.
- Calls to Action: Explicitly or implicitly prompting user actions within the lyrics (“Wipe It Down,” “Flip the switch”) can directly inspire challenges and video concepts.
- Skits and Storytelling Potential: Songs that lend themselves to skits, narratives, or visual storytelling can spark creativity among TikTok users.
Examples of Popular TikTok Songs and Why They Went Viral
Let’s examine specific examples of songs that gained immense popularity on TikTok and analyze the elements that contributed to their success:
“Wipe It Down” – BMW KENNY
Videos: 2.9M
This song sparked the “Wipe It Down” challenge, where users cleaned mirrors to reveal a transformed or “hotter” version of themselves. The simple, direct instruction “wipe it down” was key to its viral spread. It capitalized on visual transformations and TikTok’s editing capabilities.
tiktok challenge
“Nonstop” – Drake
Videos: Massive (Countless unofficial versions and hashtags in billions of views)
The lyric “I just flipped a switch” ignited a trend where users flipped lights on and off to showcase clothing changes or transformations. Its simple, visual concept and Drake’s star power fueled its widespread adoption.
“Toosie Slide” – Drake
Videos: 4.7M
Many believe this song was intentionally crafted for TikTok. It features lyrics that directly instruct a dance, making it a perfect fit for a dance challenge. Drake effectively created a song and dance trend simultaneously.
“Lalala” – bbno$ + Y2K
Videos: 2.9M
The catchy and somewhat nonsensical melody (“Did I really just forget that melody?”) became a viral earworm. Its popularity extended beyond TikTok, amassing over 600 million Spotify streams. The song’s quirky nature and beat drops inspired various trends, including a hand emoji dance.
“Just did a Bad Thing” – Bill Wurtz
Videos: 1.5M
This song soundtracked videos showcasing “bad decisions,” from haircuts to sunburns. Its humorous and relatable theme, combined with a contrasting “good thing” version, offered versatility and encouraged user-generated content about everyday experiences.
“Obsessed” – Mariah Carey
Videos: 3.5M
This older song experienced a resurgence on TikTok due to an easy-to-learn dance that interpreted the lyrics. Its familiarity and ironic usage in videos, sometimes featuring meme-famous personalities, contributed to its renewed popularity.
“death bed (coffee for your head)” – Powfu ft. beabadoobee
Videos: 5.8M
This song stands out as an exception. It’s not upbeat or challenge-driven. Its melancholic and wholesome vibe made it a popular background track for emotional and heartfelt videos, demonstrating that not all TikTok hits need to be high-energy dance tracks.
“Surrender” – Natalie Taylor
Videos: 2.6 M
“Surrender” became associated with sad or poignant videos, often used in content about loss, confessions of love, or significant life moments. The lyric “whenever you’re ready” resonated with emotional storytelling on the platform.
“Dreams” – Fleetwood Mac
This classic song experienced a massive resurgence thanks to a viral video of a man skateboarding and drinking Ocean Spray cranberry juice. This example highlights the unpredictable nature of virality and how organic, unexpected moments can propel even older songs to TikTok fame. It underscores that authenticity and relatability can be just as powerful as calculated strategies.
Anaconda
TikTok Songwriting Exercise: Embrace the Challenge
Ready to create your own TikTok hit? Here’s a practical songwriting exercise:
Challenge yourself to write a song specifically intended to go viral on TikTok. Incorporate one or more of the TikTok elements discussed: a beat drop, a catchy phrase, a call to action, or skit potential. Think about a corresponding TikTok skit, dance challenge, or concept to accompany your song. Consider collaborating with someone familiar with TikTok trends to brainstorm ideas. Make TikTok your creative starting point.
book-for-webElevate Your Song with a TikTok Intro
Another approach is to enhance your existing songs for TikTok. Consider adding a TikTok-specific intro or outro – a short skit, a catchy vocal hook, or a sound effect – that could serve as a launching point for user-generated content. This extra 1% of effort can significantly increase your song’s TikTok appeal.
Integrating “TikTok thinking” into your songwriting and production process is becoming increasingly essential. Just as producers consider hooks, sounds, and unique angles, songwriters should now consider the “TikTok angle” – how a song can be visually and socially engaging on the platform.
FREE NEWSLETTER
Unlock Insider Secrets of Songwriter and Artist Success.
Stay up to date on must read, new articles, courses and special offers.
Staying Ahead of TikTok Song Trends
To maximize your chances of creating popular TikTok songs, staying informed about current trends is vital. Here are effective ways to track trending music on TikTok:
-
Spotify Playlists: Follow curated Spotify playlists like “Viral Hits,” “big on the internet,” and “Internet People.” These playlists are frequently updated with songs gaining traction on TikTok.
-
Chartmetric: For a more in-depth analysis, consider Chartmetric. While a paid subscription, it offers comprehensive data, including TikTok charts, song trends, and influencer identification. This tool can help you research top songs, sounds, and even identify TikTok influencers who could potentially promote your music.
-
TikTok’s Discover Tab: Actively use TikTok and explore the “Discover” tab. This section showcases trending topics and hashtags, providing insights into current viral trends. While it may not directly highlight trending songs, it can reveal themes and challenges you can adapt to your music. TikTok also suggests top sounds when you create a post.
-
Billboard and Music Industry Publications: Keep an eye on Billboard and other music industry publications. They are increasingly covering TikTok trends and may soon feature dedicated TikTok charts, offering more traditional tracking of popular songs on the platform.
-
Algorithm Awareness: Engage consistently with the TikTok app. The algorithm learns your preferences and will curate your “For You” page with content and sounds relevant to your interests, helping you discover trending music organically.
Conclusion: Embracing the Magic of TikTok Hits
In conclusion, popular TikTok songs encompass a wide spectrum – from high-energy hip-hop tracks to emotional ballads and even unexpected classics. The key to TikTok virality often lies in a song’s ability to connect with users on an emotional level, inspire creativity, and facilitate sharing and participation. Whether it’s a dance challenge, a skit, or simply a relatable soundtrack for everyday life, TikTok hits possess a certain magic that resonates with a global audience.
Ultimately, while understanding trends and incorporating key elements can increase your chances of creating a popular TikTok song, authenticity and a genuine connection with your audience remain paramount. Embrace the platform, experiment, and let your creativity guide you in crafting songs that have the potential to become the next viral sensation.
see-you-soon
See you on the app, and happy TikToking!
Article co-authored with Arielle Tindel
INSIDER SECRETS TO HIT SONGWRITING
Learn the art and secret science behind hit songwriting whether you’re an artist or aspiring pro songwriter for others.
Discover 16 never before shared hit making secrets (that you won’t find anywhere else) to elevate your songwriting.
LEARN MORE
[
FREE DOWNLOAD
Sign Yourself! book cover
DOWNLOAD NOW
](#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dpopup%3Aopen%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6IjE2NzkiLCJ0b2dnbGUiOmZhbHNlfQ%3D%3D)
