TikTok is more than just a visual social media channel. While fun, dynamic videos help make your content strategy pop, what drives virality and success on the channel is the auditory experience. TikTok is all about sounds. Using the right sound at the right time can be the difference between your best video sinking or skyrocketing to the ‘For You’ page.
Figuring out how to use popular TikTok sounds and which sounds work best can be challenging for social media managers. TikTok trends change fast, and keeping up with trends is a job in itself. In many ways, brands have to rethink everything they know about social media as it transforms into social entertainment, and users scroll through their feeds for entertainment above everything else.
To help you navigate this new era of social marketing, this blog covers:
Diving into the vibrant world of TikTok, you'll quickly notice it's not your average social platform. It's a playground for music and entertainment enthusiasts. TikTok's heartbeat is its music - a dynamic mix of sounds and songs neatly categorized into viral hits, spanning various genres and moods. Perfect for nailing that dance challenge or mastering your lip-sync game.
Now, here's the juicy part: finding those trending TikTok audios. Picture a chart, like a treasure map, leading you to the top-performing songs that are making waves across countless videos. These aren't just any tracks; they're the ones setting the TikTok universe on fire. And let's not forget the remixes – they're a big deal here. Each track transforms, creating multiple versions that fuel fun, viral dance challenges. They're easy to film, and before you know it, you might just be the next viral sensation.
So, how do you tap into this goldmine of trending TikTok audio? It's all about exploring the viral section, where the magic of music meets the pulse of popular culture. If you don't have endless hours to scroll on TikTok to find the next big sound, we've curated a list of the top trending TikTok audio (updated monthly) sure to set your video up for success.
As we prepare for Spring, an eclipse and more this month, these are the sounds and songs trending on FYP’s across TikTok.
Magnetic by new K-pop group ILLIT is taking TikTok by storm — use this upbeat track to back products you love and feel ‘magnetic’ towards, or try the trending dance that accompanies the song.
Audio: Magnetic - ILLIT
Another newly released and trending song on TikTok, ‘we can’t be friends’ by Ariana Grande is being used across a range of content, from backing videos featuring DIYs, makeup looks and more, to users lipsynching the chorus in video content.
Audio: we can't be friends - Ariana Grande
Love it or hate it, JoJo Siwa’s newest song ‘Karma' is taking TikTok by storm — before it was even officially released. Whether you’re doing the original choreography, celebrating your unabashed love for the song or simply using it to back your normal TikTok content, this is a fun, upbeat song to use across a range of content.
Audio: Karma - JoJo Siwa
Blue Monday has been popular among creators, and comes with a corresponding trend. First, find a friend or filming partner. Using the text feature, add a common difference or decision you often struggle to decide on with a friend. This can include things like deciding where to eat, whether to go out or stay in, or even your favorite product in a range.
Then, pretend like you’re a character in a video game during a pause (ex. Moving your knees slightly so you’re moving back and forth). Punch your first to the beat of the music to mimic a ‘fight’ (while standing apart — no actual hitting should occur!)
Audio: Blue Monday (Extended Mix) - Above and Beyond
This song has been trending for a few weeks now, but shows no signs of slowing down — originally used often in blonde and brunette hair color filters, this song is upbeat and perfect to back almost any TikTok content, from beauty tutorials to recipes.
Audio: Make You Mine - Madison Beer
March’s songs celebrate friendship with a mix of fun, upbeat tracks.
Do chocolate-covered strawberries mean anything to you? This simple trend uses 'What You Won't Do for Love', and involves moving your camera to the music, has quickly skyrocketed a bowl of strawberries as the most-liked video on TikTok.
Audio: What You Won't Do for Love - Bobby Caldwell
This is a fun trend, perfect to do with your favorite coworker, best friend or an actual twin — if you have one! Grab a partner and lipsynch to the audio, ‘Twin, where have you been?’ while the other video partner says, ‘Nobody knows me like you do’.
Audio: original sound - Ryan Quejada
Of course, Beyonce’s latest release, 'Texas Hold 'Em' — a foray into country and an homage to her Texan roots — is trending on TikTok. Use this song for nearly any type of TikTok content, but especially anything with a ‘country’ vibe, whether that be line dancing, Southern food or anything else of the like.
Audio: Texas Hold'Em - Beyonce
This audio is perfect to showcase your best baddie friend — this can be a human, pet or anyone else you want to showcase. Get creative and use it to showcase your brand’s favorite product pairings and more.
Audio: Baddie Friend
Universal Music Group has removed its catalog from TikTok — but what does this mean for brands? Despite many of these songs being off-limits for brands in the first place, social teams might be surprised to find certain songs from their past content removed. This has opened the floor for smaller artists and other creators to share their music — with that, here are February’s trending sounds on TikTok.
To use the ‘feeling down’ audio and the corresponding trend, simple lipsynch to all of the ‘no’ answers in the sound. Another way creators are using this trend is to add a question from the perspective of one of their viewers, then lipsynch to the questions while using TikTok’s text feature to add questions that respond to the original question. For example, the creator below asks, ‘I want to get glass skin but don’t know how’, then proceeds to ask her audience, ‘do you double cleanse?’ and a series of other questions that relate to the glass skin trend.
Audio: original sound
This Valentine’s Day sound might be a little ‘dark’ for some brands but is trending across TikTok regardless. This trend uses audio from the movie ‘Gone Girl’ and says, ‘For Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d buy a gun…’ before evolving into a sped-up version of ‘Oblivion,’ by Grimes. This audio is used for Valentine’s Day content or even just an interesting seasonal track to back tutorials and OOTDs.
Audio: original sound - forsaken
Full Crate x Jungle Black is the perfect ‘vibey’ track to back almost any type of TikTok video content, from carousel posts to videos to Stories. This song appears on OOTDs, recipes, ‘things I’m into lately’ round-ups and more.
Audio: Full Crate x Jungle Black
The ‘how hard can it be, boys do it?’ trend is brought to us by creator @mad_mitch, and is perfect for the girls (but really, almost anyone can participate!) Use a text overlay to describe something you did that men commonly do to flex your accomplishments or brand.
Audio: How hard can it be?
‘Memory Reboot’ has a dramatic, slow-building beat, making it perfect to build anticipation for a product or event, or any other intense TikTok content.
Audio: Memory Reboot - iBertoli
This breezy, calm instrumental sound called ‘the lonely tree’ is perfect for any melancholic or serious content — but it’s also perfect for a peaceful, subtle backing track.
Audio: the lonely tree (slowed) - ciaffa
Use this song, 'Happiest Year', all month long to replay your fondest memories from 2023, your holiday celebrations or even the highlights of the month as you usher in 2024.
Audio: Happiest Year - Jaymes Young
Which songs and sounds are making their way to FYP’s this holiday season? Here are some trending songs to incorporate in your December TikTok content.
Use this sweet and calm song, ‘This Little Life by Cordelia’, to celebrate daily life by sharing video snippets from your recent adventures, outings, recipes and any other footage you’ve captured.
Audio: This Little Life - Cordelia
This holiday classic, Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, is trending once again this year — use this cheery, festive song to back any Christmas content, but especially featuring your Christmas tree or a fun dance.
Audio: Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
Taylor Swift celebrated being the top global artist for Spotify Unwrapped by releasing a Midnights track ‘From The Vault’, ‘You’re Losing Me.’ This is a great song to back any Taylor Swift content, while many Swifites use the song in TikTok content discussing the song’s origins. As of writing, this song has a relatively low number of views, making this a great time for brands to be early-adopters of this song.
Audio: You're Losing Me - Taylor Swift
Transport viewers to the North Pole with this classic, festive, instrumental holiday song that’s perfect for any holiday content you plan to share.
Audio: Christmas - neozilla
This approved-for-business-use song is a hip-hop song that works well in any content sharing a new product, look or style. Use 'Trendsetter' to back content promoting recent trends or any content that aims to boost self-esteem or celebrate someone.
Audio: Trendsetter - Connor Price and Haviah Mighty
With October behind us, here are the TikTok sounds shaping our FYP’s this November.
The ‘uncanny valley’ trend is cropping up on TikTok in the form of makeup, outfits, masks and yes, an uncanny valley audio. This audio is from a customer service chat with a robot, where the caller asks if they’re a robot — in response, the robot simply claims they’re a ‘real person’ over and over, prompting spooky reactions — and reenactments — on TikTok.
Audio: WHY ARE PEOPLE USING THIS - Talia/Lena
This mash-up of Yummy by Aesha Erotica and a Righteous beat is perfect for showing off your favorite Y2K inspiration or fashion. This sound can be used beyond this, however, and is often used with people imitating the ‘Tube Girl’ trend, or generally showing off their makeup or outfits of the day.
Audio: original sound - habz.fx
This new release, Monaco from Bad Bunny, uses the instrumentals from the song’s introduction, starting with a beautiful arrangement of strings before moving onto a thumping beat. This sound is being used across a variety of content, but is especially great for any sort of reveal — tease your content at the beginning of the sound, and unveil when the beat drops.
Audio: MONACO - Bad Bunny
This trending TikTok song is a snippet of Sade’s 1992 release ‘Kiss of Life’ where she sings, “there must have been an angel by my side.” Use this sound for content highlighting something you really love, use it humorously to describe a time when you had a close call or as a soothing backing track to any of your content.
Audio: Kiss of Life - Sade
Sunday by HNNY is a soothing, string-filled instrumental perfect to back nearly any content. It’s being used in ‘day in my life’ content, recipes and more.
Audio: Sunday - HNNY
Bae by Skilla Baby is hip-hop song is being used mainly for hair videos — particularly those showing off natural and protective hairstyles. When he sings ‘middle part or side’, try showing off these hairstyles, or simply use this upbeat song to back any other high-energy content.
Audio: Bae - Skilla Baby
With leaves changing and Halloween fast approaching, here are the sounds you’ll hear — and should use — on TikTok this October.
Use this trending sound from Family Guy to describe a situation you need to talk about but would much rather avoid. Lipsynch with a friend or coworker — popular scenarios include friends moving away or relationship break-ups.
Audio: Original Sounds - Family Guy Clips
The Barbie movie is the gift that keeps on giving. Use this trending sound to describe a situation that flatters or makes you smile — however big or small.
Audio: Original Sound
Use this sped-up version of the hit Millionaire by Kelis ft. Andre 3000 to back nearly any TikTok content, particularly anything upbeat and funky.
Audio: Original Sound
This song is chill, laid back yet high-energy, making this electronic-indie bop perfect for videos featuring, fun, dancing and other carefree activities.
Audio: Original Sound - EX7STENCE
When it comes to this new Olivia Rodrigo song, TikTok focuses on the lyric ‘I pay attention to things that most people ignore’. Lipsynch to this lyric and use a text overlay to describe a niche thing you pay attention to that most people don’t.
Audio: Original Sound - bella
These are the TikTok sounds trending as Fall approaches this September.
Touch My Body, this 2005 hit from Mariah Carey, is taking TikTok by storm — although the app is no stranger to older songs having a surge in popularity.
Audio: Touch my Body - Mariah Carey
This sped-up version of Favorite Song by Toosii has an over-arching theme of beauty, making it especially perfect for TikTok content from the beauty industry. However, it’s a great song to use as backing music for nearly any type of TikTok content.
Audio: Original Sound - cmonnryan
As the Summer of Taylor Swift comes to a close, don’t worry — Fall also has a special place for Taylor Swift, with Anti-hero from Midnights taking FYP’s by storm. Brands can use this sound as on-the-nose background music for discussing a pain point they help solve, dispelling misconceptions or just as a general catchy song to back your best video content.
Audio: Anti-hero - Taylor Swift
If you want to hold onto the remnants of Summer (or represent a locale where sea shanties and the like are relevant), Sea Shanty by Wellerman is the perfect song to capture those ‘out to sea’ vibes. Use this for any ocean-themed content or simply as an upbeat backing tune for your video.
Audio: Wellerman - Sea Shanty
Doja Cat’s newest release, ‘Paint The Town Red,’ is a catchy song perfect for showcasing any video content where the color red is featured — or try your hand at the ‘Paint The Town Red’ dance trend.
Audio: Paint The Town Red - Doja Cat
TikTok sounds are the auditory cues that users can play during their videos. Short-form videos automatically play with the sound turned on, and your choice of audio plays an all-important role in making a strong first impression in your TikTok marketing strategy.
TikTok has a library of sounds where you can discover new sounds or listen to your favorites that you’ve saved. TikTok’s Discover section not only features the top trending tags but also calls out the top trending sounds. Users looking for variations of a particular trend may search for more content related to that sound. TikTok may also organically serve them trending content as they scroll, which is why taking advantage of trending sounds leads to higher performance on TikTok.
Megan Thee Stallion’s songs had the most catalog views of any artist in 2020 and 2021.
In 2022, the most played sounds didn't belong to one particular artist — these were:
Sounds integrate directly with the TikTok camera. Once you select the plus button at the bottom of your screen, you will see the “Add sound” button at the very top of the camera.
From there, you will see the sounds library, which will most likely be the commercial music library if you are using TikTok for Business (these sounds are royalty-free and can be used commercially).
Additionally, you can search for specific sounds in the library or create content related to a sound once you’ve found it on the Discover page.
You can add sound to videos from your camera roll as well. After you upload your video, tap “Sounds” and drag your intended sound from the library or your Favorites into your video.
In this case, it’s harder to sync existing video with an original sound from the library, and most marketers simply use their phones to record TikToks in the moment. It’s easy to record, and audiences on this channel are accustomed to lo-fi footage over staged video.
Although TikTok has a robust library of sounds, all viral sounds have to start from somewhere. Case in point: the “berries and cream” earworm that took over TikTok feeds in 2021 originated from a Starburst marketing campaign in 2007. Podcaster Justin McElroy uploaded it as a custom sound to the channel in January 2021, and the sound did not take off until August of the same year.
There’s no telling which sounds will take off or when, but experimentation, keeping a pulse on TikTok analytics, and being open to unconventional new ideas is vital. The following tips will help you start creating your own sound on TikTok.
Once you record or upload a video, tap “Next” to go into the editor. From there, you have the option to tap the voiceover button and speak into your phone’s microphone. Once you hit “Save,” your content is ready to post.
Voiceovers are a great way to narrate your content if you don’t want to use text. Keep your sound short, sweet, and funny for a better chance of your sound going viral on TikTok.
You can also add your own music to TikTok by uploading a video that uses your sound. You will need to use a third-party app like iMovie to overlay the audio, but once it’s uploaded to TikTok, you can use the sound in future content by selecting “Use this sound” or adding it to your favorites.
The best way to make a catchy sound is to keep it short and easy to loop. TikToks play on repeat, and the more time TikTok users spend watching your video, the more likely the algorithm is to recommend your content to them in the future, which is invaluable for your marketing initiatives, such as TikTok shopping.
What's exciting about TikTok is how the most popular sounds and trends are always changing. Artists such as Megan Thee Stallion and Doja Cat are mainstays at the top of the charts, however independent artists are also able to find themselves skyrocketing to the top of the charts.
While TikTok does not offer a native option to download sounds, you are able to select “Add to favorites” to save a sound for later and use it in your own videos.
Once you’ve selected a sound on TikTok, tap “Next” to go into the editor. By selecting the scissors icon, you are able to move your selection of the song to your desired length, as well as adjust the volume.
TikTok doesn’t allow you to use two sounds, however you are able to use multiple sounds by taking advantage of your third-party video editing software of choice.
You are able to indicate to TikTok’s algorithm that you are not interested in a particular sound by long-pressing a video, and tapping “not interested” to stop having similar content recommended. After doing this on a couple of videos with the sound, your recommendations should be fine tuned—this tip also goes for all TikTok content.
Duets automatically use the sound from the TikTok you’re doing a Duet with. However, you can use your own sound by using the mic button to turn on your own sound. Then, after you record your video, you can select the “Volume” button and turn the added sound from the Duet all the way down so that only your audio plays.