TikTok, an app known for catapulting obscure artists onto the Billboard charts, had a turbulent start in 2024.
At the end of January, Universal Music Group (UMG) pulled its catalog — including massive artists like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Drake — from the platform after negotiations dissolved between the music giant and TikTok. In February, UMG removed even more music from the platform, this time coming for all songs controlled by Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), which included any song a UMG artist wrote or co-wrote. TikTok estimated that UMG owned 20 to 30 percent of the music on the platform.
In April, ahead of the release of Swift's newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, the singer's music returned to TikTok. By the beginning of May, TikTok and UMG reached a deal to usher its catalog back onto the app.
Before "Apple" took over during brat summer, the was a nearly four-month dry spell where Djo's "End of Beginning" soared in popularity, soundtracking nearly every video on our FYPs. But over the course of the year, TikTok reclaimed its title as a hub for music discovery.
Here are some of the best and most viral songs on the platform in 2024.
"Apple" by Charli XCX
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and "Apple" by Charli XCX was never far from our FYP.
Brat wasn't just an album but a cultural moment, and the iconic "Apple" dance created by Kelley Heyer bolstered its success. The song soundtracks over 1.7 million videos, with participants dancing to it everywhere. The dance was so popular that on Charli XCX and Troye Sivan's Sweat Tour, they crowded an "Apple girl" at each show who performed the choreography on the big screen.
"BIRDS OF A FEATHER" by Billie Eilish
Eilish's music returned to TikTok just in time to bolster the success of her latest album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT. While "LUNCH" is the album's single, "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" is the runaway hit on social media. Eilish's plea to stick together became the go-to song to soundtrack TikTok videos about friendship and romance, boasting over 1.3 million videos.
"Breathe" by Olly Alexander
An inexplicable trend that combined a clip from Gilmore Girls with Olly Alexander's 2014 cover of the Years & Years' "Breathe" catapulted the song back into relevancy. The "I love your daughter trend" saw men on TikTok appeal to a woman's father with their dance moves. In the soundbite, Gilmore Girls' Kirk (Sean Gunn) says, "I love your daughter," and Kirk's love interest's father replies, "What do you have to offer her?" And he says, "Nothing, only this…" At this point, the men employ their goofiest dance moves to Olly Alexander's "Breathe." Over 247,000 videos used the remix of the Gilmore Girls scene and "Breathe."
"Diet Pepsi" by Addison Rae
With "Diet Pepsi," Addison Rae officially transitioned from TikTok star to pop girlie. The irresistible earworm proved her spot in the brat extended universe was well-deserved. There, of course, was a "Diet Pepsi" dance choreographed by @fr00dle.
"End of Beginning" by Djo
The year's runaway hit came out in 2022, but the song jumped in popularity on TikTok from a mere 18,000 videos in February to 2.2 million in March. The cinematic dream-pop song lends itself to yearn-posting for a city you've since moved away from, fan edits of The Bear, and it has the added bonus of being written by someone the platform already loves, Joe Keery — the actor who plays fan-favorite Steve Harrington on Stranger Things.
"Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter
Rising to prominence after being Olivia Rodrigo's "blonde girl" and Swift's opener for the Latin America leg of the Eras Tour, Carpenter gripped the internet with four little words, "That's that me espresso."
Her sun-drenched hit is not only impossibly catchy but endlessly quotable. "That's that me espresso" and "I'm workin' late cuz I'm a singerrrr" inspired countless memes. Between the original and the "Double Shot Version," it's soundtracked over 450,000 videos on the app.
"Juna" by Clairo
Amid so much Clairo shade, the soft-spoken singer-songwriter released her third album, Charm.
"Juna," the hopeful lead single, inspired over 1.3 million TikToks and an accompanying trend. Participants in the trend posted a photo of themselves captioned with the lyrics, "You know me," followed by another slide saying, "You KNOW me," with a photo of themselves surrounded by things that define them. In true TikTok fashion, the defining things were often-materialistic in nature, detracting from the beauty of the song.
"Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
It isn't TikTok if it isn't bringing a past hit to new listeners. This year, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's 2003 single "Maps" exploded in popularity thanks to an incredibly simple dance that even rabbits, cats, seals, and dogs performed.
"Mamushi (feat. Yuki Chiba)" by Megan Thee Stallion
Every summer is hot girl summer when Megan Thee Stallion is making hits. "Mamushi," this year's contribution to the hot girl canon, inspired creator MONA to choreograph a wildly popular dance to the song. The hype for the dance continued to explode when Megan Thee Stallion danced with MONA in a TikTok video. The track was used in over 2.4 million videos. Between "Mamushi," "Maps," and "Apple," the TikTok dance made a triumphant return — the girls stayed dancing!
"Nasty" by Tinashe
"Is somebody gonna match my freak?" is to Tinashe as "That's that me espresso" is to Carpenter.
Released in April, "Nasty" rose to virality thanks to a freaky white boy's dance moves on TikTok. A genius X user reposted a brief clip of a dancer, Nate — who posts under the handle @nates.vibes — impressively gyrating his hips, biting his finger, and sticking his tongue out. His moves are at odds with his nerdy appearance, making it immediate meme fodder.
In the original video, posted in February 2023, he dances to "Bind" by Hey Choppi, but the viral version replaces the audio with "Nasty." The video garnered more than 10 million views on X and spurred a whopping 5.6 million TikToks, including Tinashe herself mimicking Nate's moves. Now, that's what we call the Song of the Summer.
"Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar
From March to May, Kendrick Lamar and Drake went head to head in a vicious rap battle instigated by "Like That" from Future, Metro Boomin, and Lamar.
Over the course of 10 songs, Lamar and Drake launched diss after diss at each other, setting the internet ablaze with analysis and speculation. But back-to-back hitters "Meet the Grahams" and "Not Like Us" seemingly declared Lamar the winner. With accusation-laded, highly charged bars like "Certified Lover Boy, certified pedophiles" and "Tryna strike a chord, and it’s probably A-minor," "Not Like Us" has produced hundreds of thousands of TikToks and counting.
"TEXAS HOLD 'EM" by Beyoncé
Beyoncé inspired a good old-fashioned TikTok dance with "TEXAS HOLD 'EM." Choreographed by users Dexter Mayfield (@dexrated) and Matt McCall (@matt8mccall), their original dance video received a whopping 43.5 million views and 4.2 million likes. The song has since been used in over a million videos.
"That's So True" by Gracie Abrams
The final song to dominate FYPs this year was Gracie Abrams' "That's So True." For weeks on end, videos of people emphatically lip-synching, "What'd she do to get you off? (Uh-huh) / Taking down her hair like, oh, my God," were inescapable on the platform. And Abrams herself is seeing the boost in real-time as "That's So True" continues to climb the Billboard Hot 100.
