8 Songs That Tookover Tiktok In 2022
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8 Songs That Tookover Tiktok In 2022

Keywords: TikTok song, trending songs 2022, TikTok dance, TikTok music, TikTok meme, popular music composer

Keyword MSV: 12,100

Author: Angela Xie

Due Date: May 13th, 2022

Publish Date: May 16th, 2022

Buyer Persona: “Tiara Dawson”


TikTok, the most famous short video application, continues to shine on social media and is one of the most popular social media applications. In addition to being able to share their videos on TikTok for more social groups with the same interests to discuss, TikTok is also becoming a good way for various musicians to share the music they create. Compared to the tedious steps of searching, listening, and favoriting on various music platforms, TikTok can make viewers remember a particular song quickly through both visual and auditory impact. The more widely a certain video spreads, the better the music in this video can be promoted as well.

In this post, I will list 8 of the most popular TikTok music in 2022 - whether they are covers, originals, or remixes. TikTok has successfully publicized music works and made more people around the world feel the charm of music and video tie-in.


1. "Gimme More" by Britney Spears

"Gimme More" is an electropop dance song released by Britney Spears in 2007, as the title track of her fifth studio album Blackout, with a catchy melody and a strong drum beat. Despite being released fifteen years ago, the song has remained a hit, and the advent of TikTok has made it a hit again, making it a popular selection on TikTok." The success of the song "Gimme More" is not only the song itself, in recent years, "Gimme More" has been covered and sampled by many artists, including Miley Cyrus, Sia, etc., and many musicians have made it into a remix version or used it as the first choice for DJ remixes.

In TikTok, "Gimme More" is used by TikTok dancers for choreography. The dances in TikTok are a bit different from regular street dances, but they are often easier to learn, thus increasing the popularity of the dances and songs. The clear drums and rhythmic dance music are most likely to be used as choreography music on TikTok.


2. "Dance Monkey" by Tones and I

"Dance Monkey" is a song by Australian singer Tones and I, released on 10 May 2019 as the second single from Tones and I's debut EP The Kids Are Coming.

The song's popularity was a heartbreaking journey for Tones and I as a musician, as the song went unnoticed when it was first released, but the song's fun vocals and unique melody brought it to the public's attention on TikTok and even helped Tones and I win awards as a musician. For original musicians without a fan base, "Dance Monkey" is a silent inspiration for Tones and I, and other musicians. It tells them that if they put enough effort into each piece of music and write in a style that the public will enjoy, these beautiful pieces of music will be heard by others one day. On TikTok, some singers who love to sing challenge the challenging vocals of "Dance Monkey" by posting cover videos, and some creative artists make videos with distinctive styles based on the rhythm of the music. Currently, "Dance Monkey" has been played more than 7 billion times, the song has broken records in the UK and Australia, and is now #3 on Spotify's list of most played songs in history.


3. "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" by Lil Nas X

Montero (Call Me by Your Name) was released by American singer Lil Nas X on March 26, 2021, as the lead single and lead single from his debut studio album of the same name. The title of which is taken from the 2017 film Call Me by Your Name, which centers on gay romance, and likewise fits the central idea intended to be expressed in the song and music video. The song was downloaded 21,000 times in its first week of release and streamed 46.9 million times. The song's style is a combination of hip-hop and electronic pop music, and Lil Nas X has done a great job on the music video of the song, combining the biblical story with the content of the song itself, in which the exaggerated style of the images and the distinctive personal music features have attracted the attention of many viewers and become a very popular song. Although the content of the song has been questioned, it is undoubtedly a modern pop song that is successful from the point of view of music production, and Lil Nas X and his songwriting team have brought out what needs to be said through music. As a result, the song also reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 last year.

It is interesting to note that Lil Nas X, as the singer himself and a member of the songwriting team, choreographed a small dance to the song on TikTok, which quickly led to a wave of imitations by others. Nowadays, the demand for singers is getting higher and higher, and they are even required to be able to dance and create buzz themselves to get better publicity for their songs.


4. "Cannibal" by Kesha

"Cannibal" is a song by Kesha, from her first EP of the same name in 2010. When it was originally released, it reached #62 and #77 on the Billboard charts in Canada and the US respectively. Kesha's most famous single is the song Tik Tok, but after that song, it was hard for Kesha to return to the top. Although she has maintained her pop-electronic dance music style, many of her later releases have not been as big as Tik Tok's songs. But thankfully, there is a platform like TikTok that gives Kesha's old songs the second life they deserve. ”Cannibal” became a hit on TikTok thanks to a teenager named Briana Hantsch (@ya.girl.bri.bri97) who choreographed a little dance to the song. Hantsch's "Cannibal" dance was such a success that not only did more and more people start covering her dance, but even Kesha took notice, and Kesha covered the dance on her account. The momentum generated by TikTok brought "Cannibal" back into the top 100 on the Canadian Billboard charts, and also back into the top 200 on the iTunes charts. This incident shows how important the TikTok platform is to any music producer, and how it is far more popular than we thought.


5. "Stay" by Justin Bieber

"Stay" is a song by Australian rapper and singer the Kid Laroi and Canadian singer Justin Bieber. It was first released on 9 July 2021. "Stay" reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been on the charts for 13 weeks, more than any other song in the chart's history, with 60.4 million plays and people from all over the world hearing this great song. The song expresses emotion and style that will be competitive in the music market for the next decade. Justin Bieber's voice is highly recognizable and his young fame has brought a fan base to the song, but the song's popularity is due to the song's excellent production and perfect vocal performance. As a very ambient song, this song focuses more on the distinctive melody and the atmosphere created by the instruments than the previous songs with strong rhythm and rhythmic dance music. It is often used as a BGM for vlog videos on TikTok, corresponding to the good life and environment. Every time you hear this song, and see the vlog videos posted by others will feel the beauty of life and regain confidence in life.


6. "Up" by Cardi B

" Up" is a song by American rapper Cardi B. It was released on February 5, 2021, as the second single from her upcoming second studio album. It was released on February 5, 2021, as the second single from her upcoming second studio album. Released on August 7, 2020, Cardi B's single "WAP" was a worldwide success, reaching #1 on the music charts in several countries, including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. "UP" was also an impressive hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning her two awards for Best Female Rap Song and Best Female R&B/Hip-Hop Song of 2021. The popularity of the "WAP" song and the dance on TikTok brought her great fortune and increased Cardi B's popularity. As a result, the song "UP" continued the success of the previous song and became a worldwide hit. The music has been used in various videos showing freedom and the desire to live free, and the joy it brings to everyone can be felt in everyone's mood. "UP" replicates the success of "WAP", but it is not the end of Cardi B's music journey. For Cardi B, the TikTok platform is a way to promote her songs and a perfect platform for her to widely promote her songs.


7. "Thank U, Next" by Ariana Grande

" Thank U, Next" is a song by American singer Ariana Grande. It was released on November 3, 2018, as the lead single from her fifth studio album of the same name. The song is a record of Ariana Grande's own relationship experiences. Upon its release, " Thank U, Next" became a cultural phenomenon, sparking modalities and buzzwords across the internet. The song's title and lyrics were used and talked about in various media, software, and video platforms. It expanded the emotional possibilities for women experiencing heartbreak - revealing the diversity of our romantic and sexual preferences - and topped the Canadian Top 100 singles chart for eight weeks.

Many listeners said "Thank U, Next" could be called a less successful song for Ariana Grande, as many felt the song's melody was not catchy enough and did not bring out Ariana Grande's vocal strengths. But that didn't stop many people from using the song on TikTok and using it in a wide range of videos in various genres. Unlike some of the dance songs mentioned earlier, this song does not have a strong rhythm and does not cause everyone's body to move like a DJ, but the emotion expressed in this song is more delicate like it is elaborating a story. Therefore, the video using this song as the BGM will be more on the side of life, aiming to enrich the content of the video and increase the level of the video. In this respect, the diversity of music is very important, not because electronic pop music is more popular to fix a certain style of music production.

8. "Drivers License" by Olivia Rodrigo

"Drivers License" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo. It was released on January 8, 2021, as the lead single from her debut studio album Sour. Drivers License" belongs to the folk genre of pop music, with piano as the main instrumentation and other instruments following a minimalist unfolding, giving the song a depressed feel throughout. The song has over 1 billion streams on Spotify.

The music track on TikTok is mainly electronic dance music, as the fast-paced songs fit into the overall style of the stream, which is immediately appealing. A slower track like "Drivers License" needs to have its own unique appeal and a specific audience to listen to. For example, people who have insomnia late at night or are depressed will like this kind of music because they can find a resonance with it and they will think that this is the music they want. Therefore, the BGM on TikTok is used for immersive landscape videos or emotional videos, and some modern dancers use "Drivers License" as background music, and their dances are usually sprawling and slow to fit the performance style of the music.


The Fit between Music and Streaming

TikTok can be seen to blend short videos and music clips to form a unique marketplace for music and communication. Anyone on TikTok can browse through the videos that interest them and hear the music they want to listen to. Thanks to the statistics of Internet big data, the content presented in streaming media is increasingly in line with the tastes of all kinds of people, and everyone can find their own style belonging to it and communicate with communities with the same interests. At the same time, streaming has shortened the length of videos, making distribution easier and faster. Musicians can use the quick function and timeliness of streaming media to promote their music to achieve a faster heating effect.

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