Tik Tok’s Hold on The Music Industry

Social media, specifically TikTok, has had a big role in the music industry and artist attention. So called "TikTok songs" are making it onto hits charts and #1 spots on all music streaming platforms. Now what do I mean by a "TikTok song?" A "TikTok song" is a song

that has gone viral on the app because users are making short trending videos to it. Over the past year, I have seen many artists careers flourish from one of their songs becoming viral on TikTok. It is even better for an artist if a influencer with many followers on the app uses their song as a video sound. For example, Doja Cat, Jack Harlow and Megan Thee Stallion, are just a few of many artists that have gained much success from one of their songs going viral on TikTok. Well known TikTok creators created dances/trends to select songs of these artists, which contributed to the songs going viral.

Lets dive into what "TikTok songs" helped boost these three celebrities careers. Doja Cat's first #1 hit was due to TikTok. The artists song "Say So" went viral as a dance on the app and boosted her to a fame that she did not have before. Jack Harlow's song "Whats Poppin" went viral as a glow-up trend on the app. Users would post old photos from their childhood and at the beat drop would record themselves now "glown-up" lyp-syncing to the song. Megan Thee Stallion's song "Savage" reached a number one spot with the help of a TikTok dance challenge. All of these artists I mentioned did not only get noticed by TikTok users, but the fame from the app made them become relevant to artists already in the industry. For example, Ariana Grande did a remix of her song "34+35" featuring Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion. If it wasn't for TikTok they may have never been featured by well known artists such as Ariana Grande, The Weekend, Cardi B, SZA and many more.

Looking into Spotify monthly listeners, these artists are in the high millions. Doja Cat is coming in at around 52.5 million monthly listeners, Jack Harlow at about 31.9 million, and Megan Thee Stallion at around 24.5 million. If it weren't for TikTok, would these artists have this many listeners?

Needless to say, Tik Tok has great power in the music industry. Tik Tok can make a song a hit and give artists more popularity. I believe the social media almost controls the top hits charts because there are millions of users listening to the same few songs that go viral on the app week by week.