Why Tik Tok is Running the Music Charts

Tik Tok, previously musical.ly, is consistently dominating the music charts. From record-breaking, 17 week chart-topping, "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X to 11 week chart-topping "The Box" by Roddy Rich, tik tok has been producing many pop stars. While dance songs and catchy hooks are nothing new in music they are what's dominating tik tok and in turn what is dominating the Hot 100 charts. It seems that many artists are taking notice and jumping on the trend. A song like "Toosie Slide" by Drake which went number 1 is clearly trying to become a Tik Tok hit by incorporating a dance and repeating the chorus frequently throughout the song. This is something that artists have done in the past but is now more prevalent due to Tik Tok.

The short and looping nature of tik tok videos allow users to utilize songs with infectious hooks like "Envy Me" by Calboy and "Roxanne" by Arizona Zervas to keep users coming back and sharing the video. In the tik tok below, tik tok user @olibazz123, combines two popular things on tik tok. A big song with an infectious hook as well as a popular trend or challenge.

@olibazz123 We got kicked out for this ##fyp ##balance ##stength ##animal ##challenge
♬ ROXANNE - Arizona Zervas

This formula has taken many small artists and skyrocketed them into the mainstream. It's no accident either as Lil Nas X was clearly very social media savvy before he blew up. He uploaded "Old Town Road" himself to the app and constantly cites Tik Tok as a huge contributor to his success. He told Time magazine, "I promoted the song as a meme for months until it caught on to TikTok and it became way bigger." Lil Nas X was able to shatter the Hot 100 record of most consecutive weeks in the number 1 spot with "Old Town Road". The song also did amazing at music awards winning numerous awards. The song went diamond in the United States and many times platinum in many other countries. The song has already reached legendary status and will surely be remembered for a while. All of this would have likely never happened without Tik Tok.

So is Tik Tok good for music?

I think so, because of Tik Tok we are discovering many artists and songs we would've otherwise have never heard. Also if your favorite artist's song is blowing up on Tik Tok and you hear the annoying girls in your class singing it, don't be mad. Exposure for your favorite artist tends to be a good thing, it generally leads to their continued success and higher production music, videos, merch, etc.